Islamist rebels attack Somali airfield Balidoogle and killed

[Hiiraan boy]

Islamist insurgents briefly seized control of Somalia's biggest military airfield on Friday and looted weapons, witnesses and an Islamist commander said. Muktar Ali Robow, leader of the al-shabab rebel militia, told a local radio station his forces also captured government troops during the raid on Baledogle, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu

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"We seized Baledogle airport, took supplies of arms and also captured some Somali soldiers but we released them," Robow told Shabelle Radio by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Residents said Islamist fighters armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades took control of the airfield before breaking into two armouries. They then left.

"They seized the airport and killed three soldiers. We saw them taking government weapons with them and burning two battlewagons," resident Ali Aded Diriye told Reuters.

Somalia's interim government and its Ethiopian military allies have faced an Islamist-led insurgency since it routed a sharia courts group from Mogadishu at the start of last year.

Robow also told Shabelle that al-shabab fighters killed 11 government troops in separate clashes in central Somalia's Hiran Province on Thursday. That could not be immediately verified.

[Shirib]

Takin an airbase, these guys seem to be gettin stronger and stronger