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![As Al-Shabaab continues to wage war against the Mogadishu government, a small band has splintered from the group and allied with ISIL [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/248600137_8-e1449927506383.jpg)
As Al-Shabaab continues to wage war against the Mogadishu government, a small band has splintered from the group and allied with ISIL [Xinhua]
Lower Juba is part of the autonomous Jubaland region.
Security officials in the town of Barwaqo, 140 kilometers south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, said that a small of band of Al-Shabaab fighters who had splintered from their allegiance to Al-Qaeda and sided with ISIL were routed in the town on Friday evening.
They had first occupied the town, burning the chief’s residence, on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, some 20 Al-Shabaab fighters and their commander defected to ISIL in October, sparking a civil war among Islamist extremists in Somalia.
Al-Qaeda has ordered any commanders defecting to ISIL to be killed and their fighters imprisoned.
While a number of groups in Algeria and Nigeria – including Boko Haram – have allied with ISIL, Al-Shabaab have continued their war against the Western-backed Somali government in Mogadishu.
They have carried out a number of attacks against African Union forces in the capital, as well as suicide raids against members of the Somali parliament and other officials.
On November 1, Al-Shabaab fighters stormed a Mogadishu hotel and killed dozens.
Al-Shabaab has also vowed to continue punitive attacks in Kenya as long as Nairobi maintains a military presence in Somalia in cooperation with the army there, and as part of an African Union contingent.
In June, Al-Shabaab fighters crossed into eastern Kenya and murdered and indjured hundreds of students at Garissa University.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
