On August 6th, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said his military has gained victory over the Al Shabab group wanting to topple his Western-supported government after the Islamist rebels began pulling out fighters from the capital, Mogadishu.
The militant’s spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, rejected the claim of defeat, and justified their withdrawal as a tactical one, and that they had positions elsewhere in the country.
Because the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al Shabab never really left Mogadishu, this instance raises suspicions on possible rifts among the group’s senior commanders which resulted in the split.
However President Ahmed stressed that people who fled the unrest should not rush back until the neighborhoods have been cleared of explosives left by the militants.
By Noora Faraj
Al Arabiya with Agencies
Source: AlArabiya
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