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Al-Shabaab members and prominent leaders have fled to the coastal town of Barawe, 170 kilometres south of Mogadishu, residents told Sabahi.

Somali forces, backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), have driven al-Shabaab out of many strongholds in central and southern Somalia over the past few months, including Beledweyne, Baidoa, Hudur, Afgoye and Balad.

On Monday (August 27th), allied forces captured the strategic port city of Marka, the capital of the Lower Shabelle region situated about 80 kilometres north of Barawe.

"We have taken Marka, we entered alongside the Somali government forces this morning," said AMISOM spokesman Colonel Ali Aden Hamud, according to AFP. "There was some fighting, but not so heavy, most of the al-Shabaab [fighters] had fled".

Major General Bashir Mohamed Jama, director general of the Ministry of Interior and National Security, said the town has recently witnessed an influx of people who adhere to the takfiri ideology of accusing other Muslims of being apostates.

Maida Dahir, who sells camel and cow milk in the town market, said she saw foreign fighters queue to perform Eid prayers in Barawe.

Dahir said she saw senior al-Shabaab member Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the group's deputy leader Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali, also known as Abu Mansur, senior leader Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Qalaf, also known as Fuad Shangole, and other leaders whose faces she was unable to recognise, as they were either masked or covered with black scarves.

"Our town, famous for its bread and grilled fish dishes, has become a safe haven for terrorists and radicals from all over the world," she told Sabahi. She said militants began coming to the town after their wives and children found safety in Barawe from the air raids targeting al-Shabaab.

Mustafa Abubakar Haji Aweys, another Barawe resident, told Sabahi that al-Shabaab has established checkpoints and erected barricades throughout neighbouring villages for fear that Somali intelligence agents may be able to infiltrate Barawe.

Aweys said he is waiting for government forces to take over the coastal town, expel the militants and bring back normalcy.

Al-Shabaab's takfiri ideology a 'threat to society'

Iidow Jeylani, who drives a small passenger bus, told Sabahi that radicals in Barawe are training fighters to navigate the town's sand dunes and are recruiting many local youths to join in their military operations.

Diidi Omar Shobow, who sells charcoal at the local market, said tax officials in Barawe are related to al-Shabaab's leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubair.

She told Sabahi that Godane has brought foreign fighters into town who consider themselves "a band of survivors" and believe those who question their version of Islam deserve to be killed.

Shobow said the radicals' takfiri ideology poses a threat to society in Barawe and throughout Somalia. "They impose on us illegitimate taxation and interfere in family affairs by separating married couples and spreading unrest," she said.

Habib Nurani, a 62-year-old fisherman, said local residents are not armed and do not engage in tribal conflicts.

"We do not have the power to defend ourselves against the al-Shabaab aggression because we are not accustomed to arming ourselves to fight wars or kill innocent people," he told Sabahi.

"We can only watch as the extremists expand their control over our town until [the national] army comes and purges our town of these foreigners and allied Somalis, who are trying to transform this town into a new launching pad for their operations," he said.