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Heavy rain hampers Kenya army’s hunt for Somali militants
Members of Kenya’s army march dais during a recent ceremony in Nairobi.
A push by Kenyan ground forces toward a strategic Somali town has been slowed by heavy rain, a military spokesman said Tuesday, as Kenya’s defense and foreign ministers arrived in Mogadishu for talks.
Kenyan troops and pro-Somali government forces are heading toward the town of Afmadow, a crossroads town just north of the port city of Kismayo, where the militant group al-Shabaab is entrenched.
Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said Kenyan forces were at the Somali town of Qoqani, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Afmadow. Residents of Afmadow on Monday reported that al-Shabab fighters were leaving as the troops approached, though Chirchir said progress has been slowed by rain.
“Our troops are heading to Afmadow now, and we expect to capture it either today or tomorrow,” Abdinasir Serar, a commander with the pro-government Ras Kamboni militia told The Associated Press by phone from Qoqani.
In Mogadishu, Kenya’s ministers of defense and foreign affairs were to meet with the leaders of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, said government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman.
Kenyan forces moved en masse into Somalia over the weekend, following a declaration on Saturday by Kenyan leaders that the country had the right to defend itself. Osman said previously that Kenyan troops were not needed in Somalia’s south.
Somali gunmen over the last six weeks have kidnapped four Europeans and killed a fifth inside Kenya. Al-Shabaab on Monday denied involvement in the abductions, and warned Kenya of terrorist attacks on its soil unless its forces retreat.
