By AFP
In Summary
- Recent Al-Shabab attacks in Somalia have targeted key areas of government, or the security forces, in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities and AU troops that they are winning the war
Kenyn fighter jets have bombed bases of
Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab with scores of fighters killed, the
African Union force said Monday.
The air strikes on the impoverished villages of
Anole and Kuday in the southern Lower Juba region are part of the
offensive by the 22,000-strong UN-backed AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM),
who launched in March a fresh bid to wrest remaining towns from the
Islamists.
"AMISOM forces have conducted airstrikes... as
part of a sustained effort to destroy Al-Shabaab's military
capabilities," the force said in a statement, adding it was Kenyan air
planes that carried out the bombing.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said
Kenyan troops with the AU were also fighting the Islamists on the ground
Monday, with jets and attack helicopters firing in support. The air
strikes come one week after Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for twin
massacres on Kenya's coast in which over 60 people were killed, although
Nairobi blamed those attacks on local political networks.
The militant group said it carried out the attacks
in revenge for Kenya's military role in southern Somalia, as part of
the AMISOM force.
At Anole, the AU said airstrikes "left more than
30 Al-Shabaab fighters dead", while in Kuday, the strikes "killed more
than 50 insurgents." It was not possible to independently verify the
numbers reported killed.
But Al-Shabaab boasted of having ambushed a Kenyan
army convoy inside Somalia. "Several Kenyan soldiers were killed and
their bodies are lying in the battle zone," Musab told AFP.
"Kenya's army is using helicopters and fighters jets to rescue their surrounded troops."
"Kenya's army is using helicopters and fighters jets to rescue their surrounded troops."
After withdrawing from fixed positions in the
capital Mogadishu nearly three years ago, Al-Shabaab have lost most
large towns to the AU and government soldiers. However, they still
regularly launch guerrilla raids.
AU envoy Mahamat Saleh Annadif praised the latest
push against the Islamist fighters. "We will employ all the means at our
disposal to end their reign of terror," Annadif said.
Recent Al-Shabab attacks in Somalia have targeted
key areas of government, or the security forces, in an apparent bid to
discredit claims by the authorities and AU troops that they are winning
the war.
Foreign diplomats say the group threatens several
nations in East Africa, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda,
who all have troops in Somalia.
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