Somalia's government-led forces have captured an al Shabaab stronghold on the Indian Ocean, the defence minister said on Monday, in one of their most significant victories since launching an offensive against the Islamist group last year.
The forces took the port town of Harardhere as well as the nearby town of Galcad, Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said in a broadcast on state-owned television.
Harardhere was a major base for pirates hijacking merchant ships until 2011. It was later taken over by al Shabaab, which first rose up against the government in 2007 before pledging its allegiance to al Qaeda.
