61 dead as Al-Shabaab takes over Somali town

Al-Shabaab militants captured a town in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region today, a senior official said, and the group said it had killed at least 61 soldiers in the fighting.

“Al-Shabaab attacked Af Urur town this morning. There were few soldiers there and thus Al-Shabaab captured the town. It is difficult to know the casualties because the telecommunications were cut off,” Bari region governor Yusuf Mohamed told Reuters.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group said it had also killed 61 soldiers after over-running a military base in the town.

Read: Somalia seeks weapons to fight Al-Shabaab

“The number could rise since the operation is still underway,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabaab’s military spokesman, said in a statement.

Abu Musab said their fighters had also seized weapons and vehicles from the base.

Al-Shabaab’s insurgency aims to drive out African Union peacekeepers, topple Somalia’s Western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islam on the Horn of Africa state