African troops assault last Somali rebel stronghold

29 Sep 2012, 11:46 am   -   Source: AFP
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An African Union soldier runs past a tank after African Union-backed Somali government troops seized positions of hardline Shebab insurgents in Mogadishu. (File: Getty)

An African Union soldier runs past a tank after African Union-backed Somali government troops seized positions of hardline Shebab insurgents in Mogadishu. (File: Getty)

African Union troops backed by jets launched a beach assault on the southern Somali port city of Kismayo, the last major stronghold of the Islamist Shebab insurgents.

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African Union troops backed by jets launched a beach assault on the southern Somali port city of Kismayo, the last major stronghold of the Islamist Shebab insurgents.
  
Witnesses and officials said the force's Kenyan soldiers were closing in on key targets on Kismayo's outskirts but were not yet inside the city, where the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab were urging the population to "join the jihad".
  
"Operations are ongoing to neutralise specific Shebab targets in Kismayo," the AU force in Somalia (AMISOM) said in a statement, adding that the Kenyan forces had "successfully surrounded" the city.
  
Kismayo has been a vital lifeline for the Shebab since the African force reconquered most of Mogadishu last year and Ethiopian troops stripped them of other ket cities in the east.
  
Observers have consistently said that the loss of Kismayo would leave the Shebab, who once controlled 80 percent of the country, unable to retain large swathes of territory.
  
Witnesses said the Kenyan forces, who landed on beaches outside the town in the early hours, had closed in on the old airport and the university in the afternoon but remained on the outskirts.
  
"The fighting is less heavy than this morning and we are getting that they have closed in on the airport and the area by the university but they are not inside the town yet," said resident Mohamed Dalane.
  
AMISOM appealed to Shebab fighters to give themselves up.
  
"The fighting is still continuing sporadically in the suburbs of the city and many people are fleeing the town after artillery fire destroyed houses. There are civilian casualties but I cannot say how many," said Warsame Ali, who owns a pharmacy in Kismayo.
  
"I saw one civilian killed and two others injured after a shell struck their house, but now the heavy fighting near town has subsided and the aircraft are no longer dropping bombs," he added.
  
The Kenyan army had said earlier Friday that the city had "fallen and with minimum resistance".
  
"It was a joint operation both on air and ground, we finally entered Kismayo at 2:00 am (2300 GMT Thursday)," Kenyan army spokesman Cyrus Oguna told AFP.
  
A Shebab commander in Kismayo promtly denied that soldiers had entered the city.
  
"The enemy using military boats have deployed hundreds of soldiers on the coast late last night and the mujahedeen fighters are engaging in heavy fighting with them now," said Sheik Mohamed Abu Fatuma.
  
"They are not very close to the city because the coast where they are now is around nine kilometres (six miles) from downtown," he said.
  
Several Kismayo residents also said the Kenyan forces stayed for several hours on the beach, where they came ashore from two ships escorted by helicopter gunships around five kilometres from the city centre.
  
"The city itself is still under control of the Shebab. Radio Andalus is operating and calling on people to join the jihad and overthrow the invaders," one resident, Abdulahi Yakub, told AFP.
  
In the past four weeks, fearing an assault by the Kenyans, an estimated 12,000 people have fled the city, whose total population is estimated at between 160,000 and 190,000.
  
Kismayo is the last major bastion of the Shebab, who have lost most of their other strongholds to the 17,000-strong African Union force and allied Ethiopian forces.
  
Kenyan troops have been aiming to take Kismayo ever since they rolled troops and tanks across the border to fight the Islamist extremists almost a year ago. Reaching their goal has taken them longer than anticipated.
  
The key Shebab-held towns of Afgoye, Baidoa and the port of Marka have all fallen in recent months.
  
Kenyan forces have been targeting Kismayo for days and on Tuesday fighter jets bombarded the city's airport.
  
The Shebab seized Kismayo from the weak central government in 2008.
  
The recapture of Kismayo would be a major boost to the newly-established central administration in Mogadishu and would pave the way for government troops backed regional forces to reclaim much of southern Somalia.
  
But experts have warned that the Shebab -- who implement an extreme form of sharia in the areas they control, amputating thieves and stoning "adulterous" women -- can sow just as much chaos and death by reverting to guerrilla tactics.
  
A wave of suicide attacks against government targets in Mogadishu has already dampened what had been growing hope that a semblance of normalcy was returning to the war-ravaged capital.
  
The mandate of the country's transitional institutions finally expired in August -- after several prolongations -- leading to the appointment of a new national assembly and the election of a new president Hassan Sheihk Mohamud.
  
The new president survived a suicide bomb attack on his hotel, claimed by the Shebab, just two days after his election.

Somalia , African Union

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