50 Somalis Killed, 60 Injured in Kenyan Air Strike on Garbahare, January 6, 2012

50 Somalis Killed, 60 Injured in Kenyan Air Strike on Garbahare

January 6, 2012

Kenya says kills 50 Shabaab fighters in airstrikes

Nairobi (Shabelle M.Network) -

January 6, 2012, (Reuters)

Kenyan jets bombed an Al-Shabaab camp in southern Somalia Friday killing 50 fighters and injuring 60 others, its military spokesman said.

Emmanuel Chirchir (claimed to) Reuters the fighters of Al-Shabaab group at the camp situated south of Garbahare had been planning to attack Kenyan and Somali troops in two nearby towns captured by invading Kenyan forces this week.

'This is one of the biggest losses to the al Shabaab. The concentration of fighters was believed to be preparing to attack our troops in Fafadun and Elade,' Chirchir said.

Kenya sent troops (invading) neighbouring Somalia last October after a string of kidnappings and cross-border attacks it blamed on the militants and which threatened Kenya's tourism industry.

The African Union, which has peacekeeping forces in the Somali capital Mogadishu, extended the peacekeeping mandate and to request the United Nations bolster the force's size to close to 18,000.

The Kenyan military said it took over the town of Fafadun in a battle which killed three Somalis as well as Elade, both of which are in the southwestern Gedo region.

Al-Shabaab- confirmed the air raid through a senior official who did not wish to be named. It said it had ambushed Kenyan and Somali government troops who were on their way to Elade, killing 10, mainly Somalis.

After initial advances, Kenya's troops, who are fighting alongside Somali government forces, have been largely bogged down due to heavy rains (See video above).

It has instead relied on air strikes in areas where Al-Shabaab has a presence in the south of the country, but the end of the rainy season has seen a dramatic escalation in the number of villages taken over by Kenyan, Somali and Ethiopian forces.

Elade resident Abdiwahab Ali said Kenyan and Somali troops had moved heavy armoured vehicles into the town.

'Al Shabaab left for Baardhere after three days of fighting outside Elade. The city is now calm but people have not opened business yet,' he said. Baardhere is the last major stronghold for al Shabaab in Gedo.

REBELS VOW FIERCE ATTACKS

Al Shabaab denied Kenya could capture all of Gedo.

'Should Kenya keep on advancing toward us, we swear we shall enter Kenya,' Shabaab spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab said.

'Let them boast of going deeper into Somalia. They will see al Shabaab behind them and fierce fighting and attacks in Kenyan towns,' Abu Musab told Reuters Friday.

Last week, Ethiopian forces captured Baladwayne in the central Hiiran region, opening a new front against al Shabaab, which has been waging an insurgency against Somalia's Western-backed government since 2007.

AU Peace and Security Council head Ramtane Lamamra said as a military force, al Shabaab was being 'systematically and steadily destroyed.'

'They have been defeated in Mogadishu, they are being defeated in the Gedo and Juba regions and the same happened in Baladwayne,' he told reporters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa late Thursday.

So far, Burundi and Uganda make up the current AMISOM force, Djibouti is sending a contingent and Kenyan soldiers intend to join as well. That would mean the peacekeepers can extend their capabilities beyond the capital, most of which is under the control of African and Somali government troops.

'The overall strategy is to reduce al Shabaab's effectiveness to wage any meaningful fight,' Chirchir said.

'In doing so we are using intelligence on all their locations, intentions and immediate operations to hit them while in that planning phase so we ensure they can't carry out any attack,' he said.

Since Kenyan forces moved into Somalia, at least 30 people, including several policemen have been killed in attacks in the northeastern Kenyan districts of Wajir, Mandera and Garissa, attacks that Kenya has blamed on the militants.

Thursday, Kenyan police seized explosive equipment in the Dadaab refugee camp near the Somali border, calling it a major breakthrough in their investigation into the attacks.

Air strikes hit militant-held southern Somali villages

January 6, 2012

KUDA (Shabell M. Network) –

Kenyan fighter jets bombed southern Somali villages held by Al-shabab fighters near the border with Kenya on Friday, killing at least one civilian and many others injured, residents and a Somali govt. official said.

The warplanes were reported to have carried out a number of separate air raids in the villages of Kuda in lower Jubba region and similar attack on else where in Gedo region near the Somali border with Kenya, which are under the control of Al-shabab militants.

Residents said that the jets bombed several times on civilian areas in Kuda village, crushing out many buildings.

Mohamed Abdikalil, the governor of Gedo region for Somali government confirmed to Shabelle Media by phone while he was in the region that there have been series of air strikes on militant-held southern Somali villages.

The governor spelled out that there were civilian casualties resulted from the attacks but confessed more fatalities on Al-shabab fighters by the air raids.

Kenya, which sent troops into Somalia in October to crush the Al Qaeda-inspired Al Shabaab militants, has intensified its air strikes in recent weeks which claimed uncountable civilian casualties.

For more send your comments to webmaster@shabelle.net

http://www.shabelle.net/article.php?id=14187

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.