Somali insurgents take control of key town

Witnesses in Somalia say al Qaida linked insurgents have taken control of a strategic town from a militia allied to the Somali government.

Mohamed Hassan, a resident of the town of Dhusamareb, said that hundreds of al Shabab militia had taken over the town after they staged a surprise attack on their rivals, the Alhu Sunna Waljama fighters.

Sheik Abdirahman Ali, an Ahlu Sunna Waljama commander, claimed that his fighters’ retreat from the town was a military tactic and that they would soon recapture it.

Ahlu Sunna Waljama fighters took Dhusamareb town near the Ethiopian border from the al Shabab two years ago.