Ethiopia 'captures Beledweyne' from Somalia militants

Ethiopian forces have captured most of the central Somali town of Beledweyne from al-Shabab Islamist militants. Some 1,000 soldiers were involved in the Ethiopian attack, which reportedly used armoured vehicles and heavy artillery, eyewitnesses said. Local people were fleeing fierce fighting, which al-Shabab said was continuing. Beledweyne is a strategic town near the Ethiopian border on the road to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. It was through the town that Ethiopia entered the country during 2006 and from it that its troops were driven in 2008, finally withdrawing back into Ethiopia, says the BBC's Martin Plaut. "Intense battle now raging in the city of Baladweyn," read a tweet purporting to be from al-Shabab's press office shortly after 0900 GMT on Saturday. "Battle began at 6AM this morning & still ongoing." "3000-3500 Ethiopian troops launched an assault on Baladweyn," read a tweet posted a few minutes earlier. "Majority of local residents have joined the Mujahideen to thwart the offensive." Twenty people were killed in the fighting, a BBC Somali reporter said, mostly Ethiopian troops and al-Shabab fighters. Last month, Ethiopia denied that its troops had returned to Somalia - about two years after they withdrew after suffering heavy casualties. The AU has about 9,000 troops in Mogadishu under a UN Security Council mandate to battle the al-Qaeda-linked group. Foreign military intervention in Somalia is intended to prevent al-Shabab from overthrowing the weak interim government led by Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed - a moderate Islamist. Al-Shabab announced a "tactical withdrawal" from Mogadishu in August after fierce fighting with AU forces. AU commanders in Somalia say they need about 20,000 troops to hold on to territory captured from al-Shabab. Somalia has not had a functioning central government for more than 20 years and has been wracked by fighting between various militias.