Al Shabaab militants recapture key Somali port from Amisom

Somalia’s Al Shabaab insurgents on Friday retook their stronghold of Merka from African Union troops who had held the key port since 2012, in one of the biggest setbacks for the multi-national force.

The loss of Merka, the state capital of Lower Shabelle, is one of the most dramatic reverses for the AU force in its nearly decade-long battle against the Al Shabaab.

“The AU troops pulled out of the town and Shebab militants entered -- and have secured control without fighting,” Ibrahim Adam, governor of the Lower Shabelle region told reporters.

The historic port, some 100km (60 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, was captured in August 2012 by African Union troops.

It is one of the first major towns the Al Shabaab have seized back and it gives them access to a sea port again. There was no immediate response from Amisom, or government officials.

Residents confirmed the takeover, saying heavily armed Al Shabaab fighters swept into the town with Islamist black flags, before addressing residents.

“Amisom forces moved out at midday and the local administration and all other Somali security forces left a few minutes later - and then heavily armed Al Shabaab militants entered the town,” said Ibrahim Mumin, a local.

“They have been addressing residents at the district headquarters.”

The loss of Merka comes as foreign investigators probe a blast on a commercial airliner that ripped a hole in its fuselage, 15 minutes after take-off from Mogadishu on Tuesday, which the pilot and experts fear was a bomb.

One passenger, named by the government as Abdulahi Abdisalam Borle, was killed, apparently sucked out through the ragged hole ripped in the metal.

The Al Shabaab have not claimed responsibility so far and Minister for Transport Ali Jama Jangeli has called on people to await the results of the investigation.

But the seizure of Merka, as well as recent high profile Al Shabaab attacks on AU bases, appears part of an offensive after months of apparent retreat, amid reported splits between factions allied to Al-Qaeda and some splinter groups favouring Islamic State.

A car bomb also exploded in Mogadishu on Friday, killing three people, although the airport official it was apparently targeting escaped unharmed.

Witnesses described an enormous explosion with the car bursting into flames. The man believed to have been targeted had just left the vehicle to go into a chemist.

“A man got out of the car and entered a pharmacy, but before he returned a huge blast ripped through the car. I saw several people burned,” said Aded Mohamed, who was near the explosion.