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Somali and AMISOM officials hailed the capture of Afgoye as a military success that will enable the allied forces to intensify the campaign against al-Shabaab.

Paul Lokech, Commander of AMISOM's Ugandan contingent, told reporters Saturday (May 26) that the capture of Afgoye, a strategic "command and control" centre for the al-Qaeda allied movement, will allow the allied military forces to expand the offensive to Marca and Jowhar and other areas in the lower Shabelle region.

"My messages therefore to Somali fighters who are still with al-Shabaab [is] to come out and take this opportunity and join your brothers, this is [the] only opportunity you still have build your country," Somalia's Shabelle media network quoted Lokech as saying.

Al-Shabaab's withdrawal from Afgoye without fierce resistance follows a pattern of retreat, including a pull-out from positions in Mogadishu last August, and their abandonment of the key city of Baidoa to Ethiopian and Somali troops in February.

An al-Shabaab spokesman vowed Saturday to intensify the war against government and African Union troops, claiming the loss of Afgoye was a "tactical retreat".

"The mujahedeen fighters tactically withdrew from some positions but that does not represent a defeat," Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab said, according to AFP.

Lokech said opening up the Afgoye corridor would enable the transport of humanitarian aid to Somalis living in the area. More than 400,000 people were living in the Afgoye region at the start of the year -- the world's largest concentration of displaced people -- according to the United Nations.

Somali Minister of Defense Hussein Arab Isse said on Sunday that the fight against al-Shabaab in Somalia would continue after the clearing of Afgoye.

"Afgoye district in lower Shabelle region is very strategic city," the Somali National News Agency reported him as saying. "Military operations being carried out in Benadir, Shabelle, Bay, Bakol and Jubba regions are all related and would soon be achieved," he said.

He praised the collaborative efforts of the AMISOM and TFG forces, and vowed that the offensive against the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab would only intensify.