A senior Al-Shabaab official has on Monday urged his fighters to seize the control of Somalia’s presidential palace and ousted the African Union peacekeepers, which guard the palace, Radio Garowe reports

Sheikh Ali Mohmmed Hussein, Al-Shabaab governor for Mogadishu said the fighters have already captured the northern districts and are few kilometers away from the palace.

“We are planning to carry out heavy attacks on Villa Somalia that houses top TFG leaders,” he said, adding, “there are absolutely nothing between us and the AMISOM because the so called government forces have fled. We are just 0.5 km from the palace.”

Somalia’s state minister for defense, Yussuf Inda’ade has confirmed the defeat of the government soldiers, claiming they were denied military wares to use in the fighting against the insurgents.

Heavy fighting between Al-Shabaab fighters and government troops over the control of northern districts have resulted the deaths of at least 26 people in the last 48 hours.

The fragile UN-backed government is holed in few blocks of Mogadishu whereas the rest of the country’s south central regions come under the control of insurgent groups.

GAROWE ONLINE