MOGADISHU, July 26 (Xinhua) — Somali government fores have peacefully taken over parts of the town of Beledweyn, provincial capital of the Hiran region in central Somalia, Somali government officials said Sunday.
    ”The anti-peace elements who have been in the areas were chased away by government forces and people are now free again from the merciless gangs,” Mohamed Dhaqane Elmi, a lawmaker who hails from Hiran, told reporters in Beledweyn.
    The western part of the town was under the control of allied anti-government forces from the radical Islamist groups of Al-Shabaab and Hezbul Islam.
    Beledweyn is one of a few areas under the Somali government’s control which is struggling to counter a growing Islamist insurgency. Newly trained Somali government forces have been coming into the region reportedly from Ethiopia where they have been receiving military training.
    Elmi said government forces will further continue “liberating” all the areas controlled by the Islamist opposition forces which he accused of committing “atrocities” against the local populations.
    Niether of the two main opposition groups, Al-Shabaab and Hezbul Islam, have so far commented on the latest advances of government forces.
    The two groups together control much of southern and central Somalia and want to topple the internationally recognized Somali government and establish an Islamic state which implements a strict form of the Islamic sharia law.
    Somalia has been without a strong central government for the past two decades but a transitional Somali government which resulted from the fifteenth attempt to establish a central authority have been beset by insurgent groups who oppose any form of government other than an Islamic one.
Source: xinhuanet
Editor: Yan
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