Somali Militants Seize Port in NE Puntland

Local Editor

Somali al-Shabab militants seized a small port in the semi-autonomous northeastern Puntland region, the latest sign of a resurgence in activity by the extremist militants in the Horn of Africa nation.

A series of offensives last year by the African Union force AMISOM and the Somali National Army had driven the group out of major strongholds in the southern region of Somalia.

At the time, officials said some al-Shabab extremists moved north to the Puntland region, beyond AMISOM's area of operation. In recent weeks, the terrorist group also retook smaller towns and launched deadly attacks in the southern region.

"Al-Shabab fighters with several boats captured Garad town," governor for Mudug region of Puntland, Hassan Mohammad, told Reuters, adding that the attack took place on Monday.

However, Mohammad denied to publicly state the official possible reaction to such attack.

For his part, head of the local authority in the port town of Garad, Abdinur Abdullahi, told Reuters that most of the residents have fled, adding that the al-Shabab group had been building up forces in the Galgala Hills, echoing comments previously made by officials in Puntland.

Garad is a former haven for pirates, who had used the natural port to mount raids on commercial ships passing along nearby shipping lanes leading to and from the Red Sea.

It is worth mentioning that the Puntland coast lies near Yemen, where conflict is raging and al-Qaeda is active, in which al-Shabab is aligned to al-Qaeda.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team