Lego, (; so, Leego) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in Bay, Somalia. It is situated 100

kilometre The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...

s northwest of the capital

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

and approximately 20 km west of Yaqbiriweyne and 54 km east of Burhakaba.

History

It is located on the road between Burhakaba and Bali Dogle in Lower Shabelle region. In 2006, the village was the site of the

Battle of Jowhar The Battle of Jowhar was a battle in the 2006 Somali War fought between the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and affiliated militias against Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces for control of the town of Jowhar (located at ). It b ...

between forces of the Somali

Transitional Federal Government The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) ( so, Dowladda Federaalka Kumeelgaarka, ar, الحكومة الاتحادية الانتقالية) was internationally recognized as a provisional government of the Republic of Somalia from 14 October ...

and the

Islamic Courts Union The Islamic Courts Union ( so, Midowga Maxkamadaha Islaamiga) was a legal and political organization formed to address the lawlessness that had been gripping Somalia since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 during the Somali Civil War. Th ...

. In 2015, the area was the scene of heavy fighting between al-Shabaab militants and

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

troops in May and June 2015 with one notable instance being the Battle of Leego. In 2017, the town was retaken by al-Shabaab following the withdrawal of

AMISOM The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was a regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations Security Council. It was mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implem ...

troops as result of the Golweyn ambush.

References

Bay, Somalia {{somalia-geo-stub