20100727
africanews

Somali forces from the semiautonomous land of Puntland killed 13 members of Al-Qaeda linked group on Monday.

Puntland President Abdirahman Sheikh Mohamed Farole told reporters that Al-Shabaab fighters were killed after attacking an army base near the commercial capital, Bosaso.

“Al-Shabaab with foreigners attacked our army at an area 40 km to the south of Bosaso today (Monday). We killed thirteen of them and also captured several of them including a senior international terror man,” Farole said in a press conference in Garowe, Puntland’s capital.

Three soldiers were wounded in the clashes in the mountains near Galgalo but the force managed to defeat the rebels.

The president advised residents to face Islamist rebels who are now basing in parts of Puntland, where pirates have already settled.

President Farole who accused militants of ruining peace in the region urged the international community to support his war against terrorist elements in Somalia.

“They are not against only Puntland but also neighbouring countries and the world,” Farole warned.