Sunatimes (Mogadishu) Somali government forces have seized Kudhaa Island, a strategic hideout for Al Shabab, which is 130 km west of the key port city of Kismayo.

Somali government army official, Mohamed Hasan Bule, told Bar-kulan, on Friday afternoon the island is currently under their control, adding that they captured weapons and armed vehicles from the fleeing Al Shabab militias.

Bule added that the defeated militias of Al Shabab disappeared into the thick forest, and vowed to chase them out of the island.

A resident in Kudhaa island who requested to remain anonymous, told Bar-kulan that government ambushed the town, and managed to capture it in a short period of time, thus leaving minor casualties and no civilian fatalities.

Al Shabab militias have recently lost many key cities which border Kenya and Ethiopia, and the frontline against the militias has now moved close to Kismayo, the provincial capital of the Lowe Jubba region.

By Siham Mohamud