A group of youths formerly fighting along side the militant group Al Shabab deserted the group and surrendered to the Somali government officials in Bay region, according to a top Somali military official there.

Colonel Mahad Abdirahman, the Somali army commander in Bay who spoke to Shabelle, said that members of Al Shabab has recently been defecting to the government side in Bay region but the commander did not specify the exact number of the fighters.

The commander said the defections came after Somali national army scaled up their security operations against the group in Bay province which clearly forced many members of to have a second thought.