A Somali senior army commander has been killed in an Islamist attack on a military base north of the capital Mogadishu.

Colonel Abshir Shataqey and a number of other soldiers died when al-Shabab stormed the facility in Hawadley town at dawn.

The base was seized from the militants in October.

The latest fighting comes a day after the government announced it had recaptured the key port of Haradhere in central Somalia, which had been under jihadist control for years.

By Israel Adebiyi