MOGADISHU: Somali government troops backed by African Union forces on Friday captured the Shabab stronghold of Dinsor, the second town seized from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants this week, the defense minister said.

While Dinsor fell without a major fight, with Shabab gunmen fleeing ahead of the assault, witnesses have reported heavy casualties in the week-long offensive with civilians caught up in the fighting. Village elders reported that dozens of bodies have been buried.

“Our forces have secured control of Dinsor, and the insurgents have fled after losing the battle... the troops are now conducting security operations to clear the town,” Somalis’ defense minster, Gen. Abdulkadir Sheikh Ali Dini, told reporters.

The fall of Dinsor, in Somalia’s southwestern region and near the border with Kenya and Ethiopia, comes after the capture by AU troops of the nearby town of Bardhere on Wednesday. The two towns were some of the last remaining Shabab strongholds.

Witnesses confirmed the takeover of the southern town, saying the Shabab fled ahead of government and Ethiopian troops with the AU force, pulling out of the town on Thursday afternoon.

“Most of the residents fled so it looks like a ghost town,” said resident Mohamed Added. “There are very few people remaining, most of them elderly.”

The African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM, last week launched “Operation Jubba Corridor” — an offensive it said was aimed at flushing the insurgents out of rural areas in southern Somalia and which has involved Ethiopian and Kenyan forces.

In the southern Bakool region, elders in five villages reported dozens of civilians killed.

“The number of civilians we have counted so far is over 50, but there are also more still missing after they have been arrested,” said elder Abdulahi Isgowe. “We have never witnessed such a mass killing before.”

“I have buried about 21 victims with my own hands near Burhduhule and we have sent people to help bury others killed,” said Abdulahi Mohamed, an elder, adding women and children were among the dead. “Everyone is fleeing.”

Bakool governor Mohamed Abdi said authorities were “sorry for any civilian casualties” but said he had not had any reports of the killings.

“The phone network is down so that I don’t have details about what happened,” he told reporters.

AMISOM troops were accused on Tuesday of killing civilians during fighting in the southern port of Merka, but dismissed witness reports of “several” deaths as a “devious allegation.”

The Shabab is fighting to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government which is propped up and protected by the 22,000-strong AMISOM force.

Deployed to Somalia since 2007, AMISOM has helped push back Shabab across much of the country’s south, retaking towns and territory the group had held for years. US drone strikes have also taken their toll on Shabab, killing senior commanders, including the group’s leader Ahmed Godane in September.

Kenyan army spokesman David Obonyo on Thursday said 24 Shabab fighters were killed in the battle to capture Bardhere. Kenyan troops with AMISOM seized a strategic bridge — a key entry point for the southern Gedo region — he called “a major operational milestone.”