MARKA, Somalia Nov 12 (Garowe Online) - A Somali Islamist militia has expanded deeper into a strategic region near the capital Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reported Wednesday.

Jubilant residents in the port town of Marka, capital of Lower Shabelle region, welcomed the al Shabaab fighters and armed trucks into town.

Marka's former rulers, allied to ex-warlord Yusuf Indha Ade, withdrew from the town overnight upon hearing of the al Shabaab advance, locals said.

al Shabaab

Indha Ade's retreating local commanders freed all inmates inside the Marka jail before leaving the town.

Al Shabaab fighters were quickly positioned at key areas inside the town, including the port, the central police station and the main administration building.

It is the first time al Shabaab guerrillas have captured Marka since the militant group broke off from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

Indha Ade, who was the ICU's defense chief, was the warlord-ruler of Lower Shabelle until Ethiopian-backed government forces ousted the Islamists from Mogadishu and other regions two years ago.

'Terrorists'

The spokesman for the Somali army, Col. Dahir Mohamed Hersi, told reporters in Mogadishu that "terrorists" captured the port town of Marka. READ: al Shabaab fighters seize Lower Shabelle towns

"We want to inform the world that terrorists have captured Marka and Qoryoley towns," Col. Hersi said, adding: "The [Somali] government is making military preparations to fight al Shabaab."

The U.S. government officially designated al Shabaab as a terrorist organization in March this year.

The group, an offshoot of the ICU, now controls many key towns in south-central Somalia, including the strategic port of Kismayo.

Al Shabaab and other ICU factions have rejected the Djibouti Agreement, which calls for a ceasefire and the timely withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.

Some analysts have described al Shabaab's bold military operation to capture Lower Shabelle region as a show-of-force to counter ICU chief Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's peace deal with the Ethiopian-backed interim government.

Source: Garowe Online