AU Troops Recover Relief Food Stolen by Al-Shabab
Friday, July 13, 2012
African Union troops in central Somalia have recovered over 500 bags of relief food that had been stolen by the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab.
The AU says the food, which was meant to help feed drought-stricken Somali families, was instead being used to feed al-Shabab militants at a training camp outside Mogadishu.
The African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) says it captured the village, known as Lanta-Buro, this week in what could be a major setback for the Islamist militant group.
AMISOM says it also recovered a cache of machine guns and bomb-making equipment during the raid, which left 11 al-Shabab fighters dead and four others captured.
The al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabab once controlled much of Somalia and nearly all of Mogadishu. But it has lost most of its territory during an 19-month offensive involving African Union forces, the Somali government, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Al-Shabab is fighting to overthrow Somalia's transitional government and impose a strict form of Islamic law.
