al-Shabaab... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim
al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader...
fighters in southwestern Somalia.
The hours-long skirmishes took place in the town of Garbaharey, located in the region of Gedo and near the borders with Ethiopia and Kenya, a Press TV correspondent reported.
A security official said all victims were members of al-Shabaab. However,
The didactic
However...
initial reports said three gunnies from Ahlu Sunna Waljama group were also among those killed during the bloody battle.
The latest development comes as pro-government forces reclaimed control of Garbaharey town on Thursday after al-Shabaab pulled out without a fight.
Garbaharey is the latest in a string of major towns in the region the al-Shabaab have lost in recent weeks.
Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Over the past two decades, up to one million people have been killed in Somalia in the fighting between rival factions and also due to famine and disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia, with over 300,000 of them sheltered in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift camps in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations
...an organization whose definition of
human rightsis interesting, to say the least...
High Commissioner for Refugees.