Somali Troops Take Over Al-Shabaab Stronghold El Garas

The Somali National Army announced Monday (April 29th) that they have gained control of El Garas village, 45 kilometres north of the Bakol regional capital Hudur.

“The armed forces attacked al-Shabaab’s base in El Garas in the Bakol region this morning,” Colonel Hassan Isahaaq, commander of the army’s first battalion in Bay and Bakol regions, told Sabahi. “We took over the base and killed five militants [who were] against peace. Government troops did not sustain any casualties in the operation.”

“We plan to expel al-Shabaab from the lands they occupy including Hudur,” he said. “We will not allow them to continue to remain there.”

Allied forces pushed al-Shabaab out of the Bakol regional capital in March 2012, but al-Shabaab re-occupied Hudur last month after Ethiopian troops withdrew from the town. So far, al-Shabaab has neither confirmed nor denied the loss of El Garas.