African Union Troops recover stolen relief food from Al‐Shabaab Camp.

By African Union Commission (AUC)
African Union Troops recover stolen relief food from Al‐Shabaab Camp.
African Union Troops recover stolen relief food from Al‐Shabaab Camp.

MONROVIA, Liberia, July 17, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Over 500 sacks of stolen relief food were among items recovered from a terrorist training camp captured by Somali government forces supported by African Union troops.

The food, which was meant for humanitarian relief to the Somali people, had been confiscated by the Al Qaeda‐affiliated terror group, Al‐Shabaab, who used it instead to feed militants at the camp in Lanta‐Buro, 40kms west of Mogadishu.

The food has been returned to the local people.

Also recovered was a cache of weapons, which included machine guns and bomb making equipment. 11 militants were killed and four others captured.

The capture of Lanta‐Buro is the latest in a string of AMISOM successes that have pushed the extremists out of much of central and south Somalia. AMISOM Force Commander, Lieutenant General Andrew Gutti, said that the continuing operations would enable aid agencies to access areas where they had been previously barred by the extremists.

“We are fulfilling our mandate to support the Somali peace process and create a conducive environment for the safe delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid,” he said.

Somalia will require increased assistance after aid agencies warned that the country faces another food crisis following poor rains between March and May.