Government Forces Capture Dhobley Town

Hiiraan Online Staff
Sunday, April 03, 2011

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Nairobi, Kenya (HOL) Reports reaching Hiiraan Online News Desk confirm that the troops of the Somali Transitional Government supported by their Raaskomboni allies have captured Dhobley town from Alshabab fighters in a fierce battle Sunday morning.

Government officials whose names can not be revealed because they are not authorized to speak to the media confirmed the fall of Dhobley town, which had been heavily shelled throughout last night. This was verified by witnesses HOL spoke to who said the town was now in the hands of Somali government forces and their Raaskamboni allies who attacked it from different directions.

Initial reports indicate ten combatants belonging to the warring sides have lost their lives although the exact number of casualties may not immediately be known due to the ferocity of the fighting.

Both sides have used light and heavy weapons, with the Alshabab gunmen who lost control of the town said to be not far from the town on which they want to launch a counterattack.

Witnesses said the bloody fighting in Dhobley Sunday morning had destroyed many houses which had burned in the inferno caused by the heavy shelling preceding the assault on the town.

A military spokesman for the Somali military in the Lower Jubba Region said that his forces have the bodies of foreign fighters they killed in the recent fierce fighting in and around Dhobley town.

'' We have in our custody the bodies of seven foreign fighters whom we killed in the fighting in Dhobley town and whose nationalities are being investigated.'', said Ahmed Mohamud Abdi, spokesperson for the Somali military in Dhobley.

The Alshabab group, which had controlled Dhobley until Sunday morning, has not yet commented on the fighting. There have been back and forth victories between the Alshabab and government troops over Dhobley town since the fighting began in early March.