Hiiraan Online
Monday, May 16, 2011
Reliable sources told Hiraan Online that local residents have started moving out of the town as Islamist fighters conducted a barrage of shelling into some key positions although no casualties have been reported so far.
"There was artillery shelling since last night, no casualties so far, but people have started moving out of the town” said one villager at Garbaharey.
“A number of powerful shells landed within the centre of the town as well as inside the local police station belonging to TFG and allied forces” our source said.
There is a likelihood of a bloody clash as Al-Shabaab fighters are trying to attack positions of government forces and Ahlu Sunna loyalists as residents brace for a humanitarian catastrophe.
In the past few weeks Garbahaarey was controlled by TFG and Ahlu Suna Waljamaa forces who have taken control of the strategic town early this month following a bloody battle that led to death of several people.
The latest bombardment comes at a time when Al-Shaabab forces are making ambitious forays to recapture the town from government forces that have also been making military advancement in South-Central Somalia.
Garbahaarey is the birthplace of Somalia’s dictator Siad Barre who was ousted following a popular uprising that was the beginning of the nation’s two-decade long conflict.
Clashes between forces of Somalia’s transitional government and insurgents have resulted displacement of thousands of Gedo residents. In early March some 6,000 residents of the Somalia border town of Beled Hawa fled their homes.