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Somalia: Last stronghold of al-Shabaab militants falls to African Union troops
Kenyan troops invaded the al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabaab’s last stronghold in Somalia, coming ashore in a predawn assault Friday. Other African Union forces were traveling overland to link up with the Kenyan forces in the port city of Kismayu.
Col. Cyrus Oguna, the Kenyan military’s top spokesman, said the surprise attack met minimal resistance but al-Shabaab denied that the city had fallen and said fighting was taking place. Oguna said that al-Shabaab has incurred “heavy losses” but that Kenyan forces have not yet had any injuries or deaths.
Residents in Kismayu contacted by The Associated Press said that Kenyan troops had taken control of the port.
“The operation began five days ago with surgical attacks and gun placement at the jetty and warehouse,” Oguna said, adding that Somali national army troops participated in the assault.
An al-Shabaab spokesman said on Twitter that the al-Qaida-linked militants still control Kismayu.
“The enemy forces have launched a desperate attack on Kismayu this morning and the mujahedeen forces are resisting their attacks,” Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu-Musab said over the militants’ radio station in Kismayu.
Oguna said the assault is part of a four-prong attack involving Kenyan forces currently in villages outside Kismayo. The amphibious assault landed between 10:30 pm (3:00 pm EDT), Thursday and 2 a.m, (7:00 pm EDT), Friday, he said. Some of the troops had night-vision goggles, he said.
African Union troops pushed al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu in August 2011, ending four years of control of the capital by the fighters. The Ugandan and Burundian troops that make up the bulk of the African Union force in Mogadishu have slowly been taking control of towns outside of Mogadishu.
The expanding control by African Union troops sent al-Shabaab fighters fleeing south toward Kismayu, north to other regions of Somalia and across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, according to African Union officials.
The al-Shabaab still holds sway across many small, poor villages of southern Somalia. The loss of Kismayu would be significant. The militants taxed goods coming into its port. Al-Shabaab lost its major source of financing last year when it was pushed out of Bakara market in Mogadishu, where it also charged taxes.
The march toward Kismayu by the Kenyan forces has been nearly a year in the making. Kenyan troops entered Somalia last October after a string of kidnappings inside neighboring Kenya, including of Westerners in and around the beach resort town of Lamu, which is also seeing the construction of a new port and could one day be final point of a new oil pipeline from South Sudan.
Kenyan forces were bogged down by rain and poor roads for months but have making slow and steady progress toward Kismayu in recent weeks.
More than 10,000 residents fled Kismayu in the last several weeks. Resident Faduma Abdulle said Friday that she is now leaving too. She said al-Shabaab announced false propaganda on its radio station Friday to trick residents into moving toward the invading troops.
“They told residents through their radio to loot a Kenyan ship that washed up on the coast, but instead the residents who rushed there were attacked by helicopters,” she said. “Some of them have died but I don’t know how many. The situation is tense and many are fleeing. It’s a dangerous situation.”
The commander of the African Union troops, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti, said that more of the soldiers were headed to Kismayu to reinforce those that stormed ashore. He said the aim is to “liberate the people of Kismayu to enable them to lead their lives in peace, stability and security. Operations are ongoing to neutralize targets in Kismayu.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.