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Mogadishu — Heavily-armed al-Shabaab fighters seized control of a Somali town near the Kenyan border on Friday after an attack on an army base that left several soldiers dead, local officials and residents said.
At least a dozen people, most of them soldiers, were killed in the fighting that began in late afternoon and lasted more than an hour in the town of Elwak.
Defeated Somali troops retreated towards the border some 3km away, leaving the jihadists in control, the sources said. “There was heavy fighting in Elwak this afternoon. Shabaab militants attacked the military base of the Somali national army in the suburbs,” said Somali military official Abdukadir Elmi. “We don’t have the details yet but there were casualties”.
Witnesses said fighting lasted into the evening when the militants took full control of the town.
“Shabaab fighters took control of Elwak town after storming the military base,” said resident Omar Adan. — AFP
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