Al-Shabaab top leaders in Gedo and Baay regions desert militants

Thursday March 22, 2018

Mogadishu (HOL) - Two Al-Shabaab militant leaders have surrendered themselves to Somali government amid intensified military operations against the militants.

The group’s heads of Baay and Gedo regions, Moalim Geddow Adan and Abdirahman Filow defected to the government following a fall-out with the group’s leaders.

Adan who spoke the media said he came to the decision to defect after group increased its atrocities against the civilians.

The two renegades have been leading the administrative departments in these two regions for years.

Al-Shabaab did comment on the surrender of its two regional governors.

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The report of the defection emerged two weeks after President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo extended amnesty to the fighters who give themselves up from violence.

"Despite the trouble caused by Al-Shabaab, many of Al-Shabaab members were misled, therefore we want to pardon the Somali youth who were misled by Al-Shabaab," Farmajo said during a speech at the parliament early this month.

Since the beginning of this year, Somali forces backed by AMISOM troops stepped up operations against the militants in Lower and Middle Shabelle regions.

Last month, Somali forces had destroyed the group's Radio Andulus in operation that took place lower Shabelle region.

Al-Shabaab controls remote areas in central and south of the country has been fighting for years to try to topple Somalia ’s internationally-backed government and rule the Horn of Africa country according to its own interpretation of Islamic law.

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