Somali National Army (SNA) troops are silhouetted against the setting sun in Jawahar in the Middle Shabelle region of Somalia.
On 9 December the SNA, supported by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), captured the town of Jawahar from the militant extremist group, Al Shabaab, encountering little resistance as they entered the strategically important regional capital. Jawahar was one of the last remaining urban centres under the control of Shabaab, who have lost large swathes of territory and major towns across Somalia over the last eighteen months.