Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Hajj Rulings
Hajj Fatwas
Somalia's al-Shabab group, which has vowed to topple the UN-backed government, has seized three towns in the central Galgudud region from the pro-government Ahlu Sunna movement, witnesses said.
Al-Shabab took control of the towns of El Der, Masagaway and Galad towns on Friday reportedly without any resistance from the rival group.
The three towns lie on the road linking Mogadishu, the capital, and eastern Somalia, which is considered to be al-Shabab's power base.
"We have overrun the militants who tried to stop the efforts to spread Islam in Somalia. With the power of Allah we have taken control of three districts in Galgadud region," Sheik Yusuf Kabokudukade, a senior al-Shabab official in the region, said.
"We will not stop until we take control of the whole region from the enemy of Allah," he said.
The loss of the three towns will be a blow to Ahlu Sunna and the government, which signed a deal last month to work together against al-Shabab.
The transitional government has little real control over the country, holding only a few parts of the capital despite assistance from an international peacekeeping force.
On Thursday, the UN special representative to Somalia said that there could be no peace for the Horn of Africa country without national reconciliation.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.
PHOTO CAPTION
Recently trained Shebab fighters stand during a military exercise in northern Mogadishu's Suqaholaha neighborhood in January 2010.
Al-Jazeera
