In this photo of Thursaday, Oct.21, 2010, Al-Shabaab fighters display weopons as they conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu, Somalia A failed offensive by Somalia’s strongest insurgent group has left at least 20 people dead as the Islamist group attempted to recapture a district in southwestern Somalia from government forces, an official and a witness said Friday. The attempt by al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali militia, to win back a district near Kenya’s border left 12 people injured, said local resident Osman Gelle. Gelle said the violence, which started Thursday afternoon, was the worst he had seen in more than a year. Somali government forces took over the Beled-Hawa district last Sunday in an offensive launched to take back areas held by militants. Al-Shabab militants took control of the area in Jan. 2009 after Ethiopian troops, who had entered to support Somalia’s transitional government, withdrew from Somalia. The militia group briefly lost control of the town in Aug. 2009 to Ahlu Sunna Waljamea, a moderate Islamist group allied to the government.
(AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
