By Yassin Juma
MOGADISHU
A senior official of Al-Shabaab militant group has reportedly surrendered to Somali government troops near the Ethiopian border.
"Hassan Dhubi has been detained by the Somali security officials," Mohamed Osman, a Somali Interior Ministry official, told The Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
"He had surrendered earlier in the day in Luq," he confirmed, referring to a town in the southwestern Gedo province.
Osman described the surrender as a big blow for the militant group.
Dhubi was reportedly in charge of the Al-Shabaab administration in Burdubo, Luq and Garbaharey regions.
Last month former Al-Shabaab spy chief Zakariya Hersi surrendered to Somali authorities in El Wak near the Kenya border.
Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
Earlier this year, fractious Somalia appeared to inch closer to stability after government troops and African Union forces – deployed in the country since 2007 – drove Al-Shabaab from most of its strongholds.
The militant group, however, has continued to mount attacks against government forces and African peacekeepers.
