BBC News with Gaenor Howells

The commander of African Union forces in Somalia says his troops have driven Islamist al-Shabab militants out of their last major stronghold in Mogadishu. General Fred Mugisha told the BBC that the whole of the capital was now controlled by African Union and Somali government forces. He said an offensive in the north had pushed the militants back from a range where their mortars could hit civilian areas. Yusuf Garaad of the BBC Somali Service said it represented a serious blow to al-Shabab.

Mogadishu is the most important city. It's the seat of the government. And if the government has extended its control to all parts of the capital except that little pocket, that's very important (and) because that gives [a] big morale boost to the government and its supporters, and that's negative to Shabab and its ambition to control the country.