Blasts in Somali Town Seized by Ethiopia from Rebels

Two heavy blasts rocked the strategic Somali city of Baidoa hours after Ethiopian and pro-government forces wrested it from al-Qaida-allied Shebab insurgents, officials and witnesses said Thursday.

"Heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy after two explosions struck them when they entered positions our fighters had emptied," Shebab spokesman Sheikh Abdulaziz Abu Musab said, claiming responsibility for the blasts.

"The mujahedeen fighters are ready, and the war with our longstanding enemy will continue until Islam becomes the only principle that rules the country," he added.

Witnesses confirmed the blasts but Shebab claims of casualties could not be verified, as Ethiopian troops had placed the southern Somali town under curfew after truckloads of their soldiers entered Baidoa Wednesday afternoon.

Ethiopian troops took Baidoa -- the seat of Somalia's transitional parliament until the hardline Shebab captured it three years ago -- without fighting, but the Islamist fighters later vowed to avenge the loss with guerrilla attacks.

"There were two heavy explosions, one of them striking the Hassey factory after the Ethiopian troops entered there," said Warsame Adan, a resident.

"We don't know if there were casualties, as we could not go out at night because there was a curfew."

Somali government officials said the town was calm on Thursday morning, adding that they would continue attacking the Shebab insurgents who had fled Baidoa hours before the Ethiopian-backed forces took control.

"The city is quiet this morning, and people are feeling free for the first time in more than three years," said Abdifatah Mohamed Ibrahim, governor of the Bay region, in which Baidoa falls.

"The enemy fled, and we will keep hunting them down to ensure stability returns to the region," he added. "Security forces will intensify their operations to end insecurity."

Ethiopian troops, who moved into southern and western Somalia in November, began a major push towards Baidoa on Tuesday.

The town was one of the Shebab's main bases and its capture leaves the group's fighters in central Somalia increasingly isolated, with the African Union mission (AMISOM) also chasing them out of the capital.