Shaky front line barely holds back 'dogs of war'

The helicopter pilot is worried. Any more than 20 minutes in this shattered front-line village and Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants could start lobbing mortars at their position.

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DANGEROUS TERRITORY. Somalia National Army soldiers cross the Shabelle River on a collapsed bridge destroyed by insurgents during their occupation of Bariire town that was recently liberated from the al-Qaeda-linked militants in the lower Shabelle region.

(AFP)

Roughly 1 000 Somali National Army (SNA) forces are holding Awdheegle, a strategic town roughly 60km outside Mogadishu, with the help of an African Union contingent after it was retaken less than seven weeks ago from the al-Qaeda-linked militants.

But their hold is shaky and the helicopter one of the few in the SNA fleet and showing its age - is a tempting target for the insurgents just a few kilometres away.

“Five more minutes and I would have left you,” the pilot tells the reporters as they clamber back in, the chopper stuttering up and banking over the town’s remains.