Tuesday September 20, 2022
Beledweyne (HOL) - Somali troops, alongside local allied militia, recaptured Boo'o (Booco) village on Tuesday after the al Shabaab fighters withdrew from the area, officials say.
The residents said the militants left the village before the forces approached the areas.
Governor of the Hiiraan region, Ali Jeyte Osman, and other officials from the Somali National Army's 27th and 5th Divisions were leading the joint forces captured to capture Boo'o, a small village 45 kilometres south of Beledweyne.
Al-Shabab controlled Boo'o village for the past decades and operated courts to summon the residents of Baledweyne.
In June, a government-allied militia attacked the Boo'o after the militants killed a well-liked traditional elder from Hiiraan, Mohamud Ali Dhere.
Somali army commanders said Monday that the Somali National Army killed more than 100 al-Shabab militants during its most recent push against al-Shabab in the central Hiran region over the weekend.
Witnesses say the troops also recaptured two villages that al-Shabab had held for more than a decade.