Somaliland: Al-Shabaab fighters captured town of Gacan Maroodi
Al-Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, al-Shabaab, stated yesterday that it’s men have captured a town in the disputed Sanaag region of northern Somalia.
While the federal government of Somalia claims Sanaag, the region is effectively under the control of the Somaliland administration.
“Fighters of al-Shabaab captured the town of Gacan Maroodi, which sits 50km from Ceerigabo in the northern Somali state of Sanaag after forces of the Somaliland administration fled,” al-Shabaab’s original statement reads.
In another statement, al-Shabaab’s military spokesman Abdul Aziz Abu Musab, congratulated the jihadists saying that “this is the first time the mujahideen of al-Shabaab has controlled a town in Somaliland.”
While al-Shabaab fighters did indeed invade the town, it is not immediately clear if the group currently holds the locale or not. Somali media reported that the jihadists entered the town yesterday after traveling from the nearby Cal Madow Mountains.