(DPA) – Mogadishu – At least 18 [Woyanne-backed] Somali troops were killed in an attack by Somali insurgents when they seized the southern town of Dinsoor and then retreated, witnesses said Monday.

“Early Monday, we heard explosions and machine gun fire between the rebels and the government troops,” said resident Ahmadey Sidow. “Al-Shabab took over the district after a while, killing more than a dozen troops. Then, they went back to the hills.”

The al-Shabab, along with other factions, are blamed for the persistent insurgency plaguing the capital Mogadishu which has killed thousands and displaced 600,000 from the seaside city.

Residents in Dinsoor, about 300 kilometres west of Mogadishu, said some 18 bodies of government troops had been found since the incursion Sunday.

Al-Shabab spokesman, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, said the militias retreated because they had achieved their aim of chasing away Ethiopian troops, who assisted the Somali troops in battling the Islamist group.

“Our aim isn’t to capture a place but to kill Somali troops and Ethiopians Woyannes who have invaded our homeland,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The Union of Islamic Courts ruled much of Somalia for the last half of 2006 and managed to restore stability to the anarchic nation.