Islamic fighters seize Somalia town

(CNN) -- Islamist fighters Thursday seized a central Somali town from Ethiopian-backed government forces in a fierce fight that left at least 17 people dead, a local journalist said.

The fighters are members of al-Shaabab, which the United States recently designated as a terrorist group, saying it has ties to al Qaeda.

The fighting between al-Shaabab forces and the Ethiopian-backed Somali forces broke out at 6 a.m. in the town of Adaado and continued for six hours, according to reporter Mohamed Moallin Appullahi, who spoke to CNN from Adaado.

The Islamist fighters destroyed two military tanks and captured eight other military vehicles from government forces stationed in Adaado, before forcing them to withdraw to a nearby town and across the Ethiopian border, Appullahi said.

Other fighting between al-Shaabab and government forces was reported in the nearby town of Jalalaqsi, but Appullahi had no details on that fighting.

According to the U.S. State Department, al-Shabaab -- also known as the Mujahedeen Youth Movement -- "is a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al Qaeda."

"Many of its senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with al Qaeda in Afghanistan," the State Department said.

Al-Shaabab is also an extremist splinter group of the Islamic Courts Union, which seized control of Somalia and its capital, Mogadishu, two years ago before being deposed in Ethiopia's December 2006 invasion.

The United States accuses the ICU of harboring suspected al Qaeda figures and did not protest Ethiopia's invasion.

After their defeat more than a year ago, the Islamist fighters retreated to southern Somalia, but appear to be making a comeback in recent weeks.

Previously, ICU remnants staged intermittent attacks across Somalia, including launching grenades in Mogadishu. But recently, the Islamist fighters have become more brazen, carrying out attacks in daylight and seizing control of towns in southern and central Somalia.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Adaado is the eighth town seized by the Islamist fighters in recent weeks.

Asked about reports that Islamist fighters seized control of a town outside Mogadishu earlier this week, State Department spokesman Tom Casey did not seem too concerned.

"What we've seen recently is patterns where extremists will, in fact, go into an individual village or location temporarily, conduct activities there, but not sustain that or hold it in any meaningful way," he said during a briefing Monday.

Casey called on Somalia's transitional government and its international supporters "to make sure that the threat that's posed by these extremist elements doesn't expand any further." E-mail to a friend

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