Soldiers loyal to the U.N.-backed Somali government on Wednesday retook control of a port town from insurgents who had declared allegiance to Islamic State, a Reuters witness at the scene said.
Shire Haji Farah, Puntland’s minister for planning, told Reuters in the port town of Qandala, which has been under insurgent control for a month, “we now control Qandala port town. The IS fighters ran away into the hills without fighting.” (reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Catherine Evans)