BAIDOA, Somalia Jan 26 (Garowe Online) - A notorious Islamist faction has violently captured an important government town in southern Somalia for the first time since the rise of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in 2006, Radio Garowe reports.

Witnesses said a group of rag-tag clan militias attempted to stop the Al Shabaab advance on Baidoa, a southwestern town that serves as the country's seat of parliament.

A brief gunfight forced the clan militias to flee, allowing Al Shabaab to immediately seize control of  government centers, like the parliament hall, the police station and a small airstrip in the outskirts of town.

It is the first time Islamist militia have captured Baidoa, one of the government's few strongholds. Al Shabaab fighters now control of the Jubba regions, including Kismayo, Lower Shabelle region and its vital port facilities, and now Baidoa and its environs.

Ethiopian troops withdrew from Baidoa a day earlier, ending a two-year intervention in Somalia that has sparked an Islamist-led rebellion. READ: Parliament to elect next leader as Ethiopia finalizes pullout

Unconfirmed reports said Al Shabaab fighters captured a number of lawmakers, including ex-Baidoa warlord Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade.

Al Shabaab, a breakaway ICU faction, has refused to engage in peace talks that has included other ICU factions in an attempt to form a government of national unity for Somalia.

The UN-brokered talks are currently underway in the neighboring Republic of Djibouti, where ICU executive head Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is a leading contender to win the Somali presidency.

Source: Garowe Online