A base in Somalia’s Puntland State used by the militant group al-Shabaab has been captured by state troops, media reports suggest on Wednesday.
Troops belonging to Puntland State raided and captured the base located in the Al-Miskat mountains in the region of Bari, northeastern Somalia.
Improvised Explosive Devices and other weapons reported to be sophisticated were seized during the raid on the base which was allegedly used by al-Shabaab to launch sporadic attacks in the area.
There has been no report of casualties.
Although Puntland was in the past largely seen as relatively safe from the clutches of al-Shabaab, there are intelligence reports that the insurgents have been concentrating their activities in its northeast and southern localities over the past six months.
The Somali National Army says it has neutralised several al-Shabaab camps in the central and southern regions of the country in a new offensive against the militant which began at the end of May.
It claims that the militants logistics warehouse in the Hiraan region have been captured from the insurgents.
Troops of the hybrid African Union peacekeeping forces AMISOM had supported the SNA to drive al-Shabaab from its strongholds in the Lower and Middle Shabelle regions.
The insurgents have been waging a vicious jihadist war in Somalia to overthrow the government in Mogadishu.
However, since 2013 the militants had lost large swathes of territory but still retain the capacity to launch deadly raids on targets in the capital.
A suicide bombing at an army base in Mogadishu on Tuesday left at least 15 recruits dead.
al-Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
Somalia has been mired in political unrest since the 1991 overthrow of its military strongman Siad Barrie.
WN/as/APA