Al Shabaab militants retake Somali town from African Union

World Today

The Islamist militant group Al Shabaab took control of a sizeable town in central Somalia on Sunday after African Union forces left the area. It’s the third town the insurgents have seized since Friday, militants and local officials said.

The group, which seeks to overthrow the Western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islamic law, has remained a potent threat in the Horn of Africa country even after being forced out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011.

Somalia has replaced its army chief in the latest move aimed at strengthening the military’s capability to confront the Al-Shabaab militants.

As CCTV’s Abdlaziz Billow reports, the new commanders have a hard task ahead in ending the deadly Al-Shabaab attacks against Somali government troops.

For more on al-Shabaab and its operations, CCTV talked to Rachel Jones, who is a Nairobi-based media consultant.