AU, Somali troops retake key port from Al Shabaab

Somali government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers on Saturday recaptured the key port of Merka from Al Shabaab insurgents, just one day after the Islamists swept into the city, the army and residents said.

"The Somali forces and AMISOM peacekeepers secured control of Merka again and now the situation has returned to normal," a Somali military official, Abdirisak Mohamed, told AFP by telephone from Mogadishu.