Garowe Online (Garowe)
27 February 2008
Garowe — Somali government troops backed by armored vehicles arrived in the district of Dinsor, in Bay region of southern Somalia, a day after Islamist insurgents reportedly took control of the district, sources said.
The government troops entered Dinsor town midday Wednesday without facing resistance, but confirmed reports said the troops had set up a military base at a locale approximately 18km from town.
"Al-Shabaab fighters are in the outskirts of Dinsor and [government] troops are inside the town," said a Dinsor resident who did not provide his name while speaking to a Mogadishu-based radio station.
He said residents remained anxious about threats from al-Shabaab fighters, who said they would attack Dinsor "if government soldiers return."
The al-Shabaab guerrillas took control of Dinsor last Sunday after a fierce battle with a small army contingent. The fighters withdrew, saying their only intention was to expel the government troops.
An Ethiopian army convoy was dispatched to Dinsor yesterday in response, but only stayed for a few hours before returning to Baidoa, the capital of Bay region and the seat of the country's interim parliament.
The guerrillas reportedly returned as soon as the Ethiopian forces withdrew, but retreated overnight Tuesday as Somali government troops were redeployed to Dinsor.
Rebels have waged relentless war on the Ethiopian-backed interim government since January 2007, when the Ethiopian army played an instrumental role in overthrowing the Islamic Courts movement that governed Mogadishu at the time.
The heavily-armed Islamists then melted into Somali society or hid in the bush, but vowed an endless guerrilla war to expel Ethiopian troops from the country.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by war since, with United Nations officials saying that Somalia faces Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.
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