Insurgent group driven out of Mogadishu, police claim

FIGHTING erupted yesterday in Mogadishu between government troops and al-Shabaab insurgents a day after the rebels said they were leaving the Somali capital and the government declared it controlled most of the city.

A spokesman for the African Union peace keeping force AMISOM said al-Shabaab fighters had attacked them in one district late on Saturday, but that they and the government now controlled most of Mogadishu.

After al-Shabaab started its withdrawal, president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said his troops had defeated the rebels intent on overthrowing his Western-backed government.