WORLD BRIEFING / SOMALIA
Islamic insurgents captured a key town north of the capital, witnesses said, but the country’s fragile government claimed the defection of a key militia leader as a major victory.
The government denied militants had captured the agricultural crossroads town of Jawhar, but residents reported a street battle that ended with government allies fleeing to the town’s outskirts.
The latest Islamic leader reported to switch sides in Mogadishu, Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, promised his men would take up arms for the government, an ally said. Pro-government militias control much of central Somalia, but the government directly controls only a few blocks of Mogadishu, the capital, and a border town.
Al Shabab, an Islamic insurgent group, controls much of southern Somalia.
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