Somali president visits Dhusomareb as heavy fighting rocks neighboring town

Somalia’s president accompanied by ministers landed in a central Somali town as fighting between government forces and moderate Islamists intensified in neighboring town, officials said on Tuesday.

The visit of Dhusomareb by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud seems unusual at a time Ahlu-Suna group, a moderate Islamist group is fighting Somali government troops for the control of the nearby town of Guriel.

Witnesses in the town of Guiriel told HOL those Ahlu-Sunna militias have taken large parts of the town after hours of battle with the
government forces.

Most of the town’s residents fled into nearby forests with the two sides pounding each other with propelled grenades.

Hundreds of residents are reported packed the streets around the town’s airstrip to welcome the president.

There were immediate details about the fighting and the causalities on the two warring sides, however HOL will keep you posted for any updates as they come.