Hiiraan Online
Monday, August 17, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) ----The allied African Union and Somali troops have withdrawn from a strategic district in Hiran region which has immediately fallen into militants’ hands Sunday, a move which calls into question the strategy of troops who vowed ousting militants from the areas still under their control in a ‘short’ time.
Halgan district is on a major highway that runs all the way from the regional capital Beledweyne to Buloburte, the second largest town in the agricultural Hiiraan region where security forces are trying to connect roads and town blockaded by Al-Shabab fighters.
Elders in the district told HOL that the abrupt pull back by Ethiopian troops has dashed hopes of security for the barren district as some residents fear militants’ backlash as result of their favorable reception for troops who seized it last week.
African Union officials haven’t commented on the development which raises questions on whether the allied forces are sufficient to liberate from the militants who continue deadly attacks across the country.
Al-Shabab aims to maintain its control of the rural areas in Somalia after abandoning most of their key strongholds without putting resistance against troops who launched a multi-pronged offensive in Somalia.
The development means Al-Shabab fighters has effective control over strings of villages between Beledweyne and Buloburte, a corridor that could give the group a breathing space to launch a campaign to disrupt the ongoing offensive against it and consolidate their power bases in south and central Somalia.