Somali officials said on Sunday that government troops backed by African Union (AU) forces were in the process of recapturing Barawe, a key port town some 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.

Losing Barawe would be a major blow for al-Shabab one month after its leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US drone and aircraft strike. Al-Shabab is al Qaeda's main affiliate in Africa.

On Saturday, the AU mission, AMISOM, also said Somalia National Army (SNA) forces had liberated Adale, a key trading town on the coast north of Mogadishu.

'Full control'

Barawe was also in the "full control" of government troops, Somali military official Abdi Mire told the news agency AFP on Sunday. Somali deputy military commander Abdirizak Khalif told Reuters that his forces were "now going into the heart of the town" after surrounding "all the fringes."

The local governor Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur told the German news agency DPA that al-Shabab militiamen had fled Barawe before the arrival of the government forces.

Combatants killed

Outside Barawe about 25 al-Shabab combatants had been killed during fighting on Saturday and Sunday, Nur said.

Barawe was in the news last week over the reported stoning to death of a woman resident under a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Al-Shabab insurgents, who have controlled Barawe since 2006, had used its port to export charcoal to Gulf countries, earning at least $25 million (19 million euros) a year, according to a UN estimate.

Al-Shabab, which once controlled must of southern Somalia, lost the southern port of Kismayo to AU and Somali troops in September 2012.

Militia still controls rural areas

On Saturday, an al-Shabab commander, Mohamed Abu Abdallah, had vowed that his militia would maintain pressure on Somali and AU forces even if they took Barawe.

The Islamists still control swathes of rural Somalia as well as transport routes connecting the government-held towns.

Multinational force

The African Union's AMISOM is a force of 22,000 soldiers, drawn from six African nations.

Somalia's government, headed by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and selected in a UN-backed process in 2012, has been widely credited for its attempts to repair the war-ravaged country.

UN Security Council ambassadors visited the president and other top Somali officials during a stopover in August at Mogadishu's heavily-fortified airport.

Three years ago, more than 250,000 Somalians, half of them children, died in a devastating famine.

ipj/nm (AFP, dpa)