The Somali coast guard on patrol off the coast of Bosaso in Puntland on November 19, 2013. Puntland residents say a militant group linked to the Islamic State that had seized the town have abandoned the town. FILE PHOTO | AFP
Mohamed dismissed the takeover of Qandala as “a desperate attempt to draw attention.”
An official in the regional capital Bossaso said the threat of an arriving force of Puntland soldiers had scared the militants off.
The militants broke away from al-Shabab and declared allegiance to the Islamic State group last year.
A breakaway group of around 50 Somali militants who declared loyalty to the Islamic State jihadists abandoned a small port town on Thursday a day after occupying it, residents and an official said.
“The militants left town early this morning but they are not far away,” said Abdiweli Adan, an elder in a town close to Qandala which the IS-linked group occupied on Wednesday.
He said the group’s black flag still flew over government buildings in the small seaside town on the Gulf of Aden coast of Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in northern Somalia.
“Some fishermen saw them staying close by in mountainous enclaves,” said Adan, who added the militants left as they had arrived, peacefully.
A security official in the regional capital Bossaso said the threat of an arriving force of Puntland soldiers had scared the militants off.