Addis Ababa 11 Oct (ANA) - Ethiopian troops fighting militant Islamist group al-Shabab have withdrawn from a key military base in central Somalia's Hiran region, witnesses say. Al-Shabab fighters have entered el-Ali village following the withdrawal, reports say. Ethiopian forces had destroyed the base before abandoning the area, a radio station run by al-Shabab said. The reason for the pull-out is unclear but al-Shabab said it had attacked the base recently. In June, al-Shabab said it had killed 60 Ethiopian soldiers in an attack on a base in Halgan town, also in central Somalia. Some Ethiopian soldiers are in Somalia as part of an African Union (AU) force while others are there as a result of a bilateral deal with the weak Somali government. The Ethiopian soldiers in the 22,000-strong AU mission are responsible for securing Bay, Bakool, and Gedo regions but are also present in Hiran, which borders Ethiopia.(ANA)

FA/ANA/11 October 2016-----