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Al-Shabaab seizes central Somalia town

Storyline:National News

Somalia’s al Shabaab fighters took control of central Somalia town Amara in Galgaduud region on Saturday , the rebels and witnesses said.

“We now control Amara police station and the entire town,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s spokesman for military operations, told pro-Alshabaab radio Andalus.

Residents said the militant Islamist group raised its flags inside the town and started to preach to residents using loudspeakers.

Over the past few months, the al-Qaeda-linked militant group has been making substantial advances in some parts of the country.

The development came barely three days after Al-Shabaab fighters took control of Marka town which lies 110km South of Mogadishu after Somali National Army (SNA) troops left the town.

On 12th this month, seven soldiers were killed in a raid on Lanta-Buro  military base in southern Somalia by Al-Shabaab.

The militants attacked the base at around 1:30 a.m. local time, killing the soldiers and seizing weapons and military trucks.

The attack began with a suicide car bomb at the main entrance of the base, followed by a massive attack by hundreds of heavily armed militants.

The assault on Lanta-buro base 50 km (30 miles) outside Mogadishu was part of the group’s campaign to try to topple the Western-backed government.

Al-Shabaab, which maintains a military presence largely in rural areas, has stepped up attacks on military bases across large parts of south and central Somalia.