Police in the southern Somali town of Baidoa city have arrested four people on suspicion of being spies of the Al-Shabaab militant group. The suspects were nabbed during a night swoop, Police Commissioner of Bay Region, Col Mahada Abdirahman, said. The police chief said they had detained the suspects during a security operation in Baidoa town following a tip-off from local residents.
One of the arrested people, who is believed to be an Al-Shabaab sympathizer, was handed over to the Ethiopian troops in the city for further interrogations, according to Col Abdirahman. Baidoa, is a strategic town in southern Somalia and is the location from where the African Union allied Ethiopian forces operate.