Breaking news fighting inside Kismayo the moment of truth

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Kenyan reporters acting like they defeated the Somalia army

 

 

[NGONGE]

Any updates on this story?

(strange that such big news has quickly moved down to the second page of SOL!!!).

[Jacaylbaro]

XX lost dee ,, as usual

[AYOUB]

NGONGE;875759 wrote:

Any updates on this story?

(strange that such big news has quickly moved down to the second page of SOL!!!).

Apparently the new president is refusing to give permission to the Kenyan-backed buffer-zone militia to enter the city with KDF. The Kenyan don't fancy their chances entering alone.*I hope you now understand why Afewerki posted his Jubbaland/Azania thread.

[NGONGE]

^^ :D

[xiinfaniin]

Kenyan's has the airport and the harbor. These two national assets contributed to the misery of the city as clannish militias fought over the control of them...

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Ciidamada Dowladda oo goor dhaweyd qarax lagula eegtay Kismaayo

 

Wararka ka imaanaya Magaalada Kismaayo ee xarunta Gobalka Jubadda hoose ayaa waxa ay sheegayaan in ciidamad Dowladda Soomaaliya Magaaladaasi lagula eegtay qarax xoogan.

Qaraxa ayaa waxaa la sheegay inuu ahaa miinada nooca dhulka lagu aaso taasi oo lala eegtay kolonyo ciidamo ka tirsan Dowladda Somaaliya oo lugeynaya.

Wararka ayaa waxa ay sheegayaan in qaraxa uu ka dhacay xaafada Faanoole oo ka tirsan Magaalada Kismaayo ee xarunta Gobalka Jubadda hoose.

Ilaa hada si rasmi ah looma oga qaraxa iyo sidoo kale khasaaraha kasoo gaaray ciidamada Dowladda Soomaaliya ee qaraxa xoogan maanta lagula eegtay Magaalada Kismaayo ee Gobalka Jubadda hoose.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Heavy blasts in Somali port as African Union forces move in

 

By AFP

 

This handout photograph released by the African Union-United Nations Information …

Blasts rocked the Somali port city of Kismayo on Tuesday as Kenyan troops from the African Union force and their allies entered the former Islamist bastion, the force, residents and the Shebab militia said.

Multiple explosions were reported in different areas of the city as troops said they had secured key strategic areas, including the harbour and airport, after a wary advance fearful of ambush by Al-Qaeda linked Shebab fighters.

At least two of the blasts appeared to be African troops detonating arms caches they had unearthed, while a third, at the regional administration offices, was thought to be the work of the Shebab.

In the evening a grenade hurled into a tea shop in Yasin market in the city wounded seven people, according to residents.

"Allied forces have fully entered and taken control of Kismayo today. All key areas including the airport, the harbour and main police stations were secured," said Somali commander Ismail Sahardid.

Kismayo, a strategic seaside town of some 160,000-190,000 people, was a key base for Shebab Islamists until they abandoned their positions there Saturday.

Witnesses reported at least one blast at the administration offices as Somali and AU troops moved forward into the city.

"It was a huge explosion," said resident Ahmed Jama, although witnesses and government officials reported no casualties.

Ali Houmed, an AU force spokesman, confirmed a blast had taken place at the offices, in a part of town known as K2, and said AU troops had arrested a man suspected of planting and detonating the device.

Shebab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said Islamist fighters were responsible and boasted of killing up to six Somali troops.

"We have attacked those Somali mercenaries coming into Kismayo to support the Kenyan regime," he said.

The AU spokesman said there had been no casualties from the K2 blast.

In addition, Kenyan army spokesman Cyrus Oguna said troops had "discovered six bombs hidden and successfully detonated them without any injuries."

Ali Houmed, the AU force spokesman, said controlled blasts had taken place at the sea port but spoke of "two controlled explosions". He acknowledged there had been "a few pockets of resistance" but said troops had now taken control of the key parts of the city.

A local resident, Abdi Musa, said he saw seven people wounded, one of them seriously, in the grenade attack on a tea shop.

Kismayo had been the de facto capital of the Shebab for over a year, but the Islamists said they had pulled out on Saturday after Kenyan troops from the AU force launched a beach assault.

"We have arrested several suspected Shebab members and security operations are going on to ensure calm... we have called on all clan fighters to lay down their weapons," said Somali commander Sahardid.

Kenyan forces have also pushed in by land from the west, where they have trekked in for some 200 kilometres (125 miles) after an invasion force of troops and tanks crossed the border last year, before later joining the 17,000-strong AU force.

In Kismayo, the majority of residents were reported to be hiding in their homes as the troops made cautious progress, amid fears of booby traps or guerrilla attacks.

"Kenyan troops and Somali soldiers have reached the port... they came on foot and in lorries," said Kismayo resident Abdusalam Ibrahim.

"They came past, walking slowly," said resident Awil Hamad, who also confirmed the troops had taken the strategic port, as well as securing the city's old airport.

The Somali troops were reported to include the Ras Kamboni militia, commanded by former Islamist Ahmed Madobe, who switched from supporting the Shebab to fighting alongside the AU.

Residents in Kismayo -- relatively peaceful under four years of authoritarian rule by the Shebab -- are reportedly fearful of violence between rival Somali clans in potential power struggles for control of the port.

In Nairobi, police said they were on high alert for retaliation attacks on Kenyan soil after the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) took Kismayo.

"We have intelligence reports in respect to terrorist threats from the Shebab and their sympathizers since KDF entered Kismayo," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told journalists Tuesday. "Security forces in the country have heightened their surveillance to ensure the country is safe."

AU troops were reported to have first entered Kismayo on Monday, although it was not clear if they had remained in the city overnight, or had retreated to more secure bases just outside the town.

The Shebab used Kismayo as an export hub for the illegal charcoal trade. Its loss is a major blow to the fighters, and marks the latest in a string of defeats since they abandoned fixed positions in the capital Mogadishu last year.

The hardline insurgents still control the town of Jowhar, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) northeast of Kismayo, and one small port town, Barawe, lying some 230 kilometres (140 miles) up the coast from Kismayo.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

3-Somali militants hit Kismayu as African troops move in

 

Reuters –

 

* Blast happened as AU tanks, troops moved into Kismayu

* Signals rebels intent to strike back, warn of more

* Moderate rebels seen peeling away, hardcore to remain

* Militants may seek "spectacular" strike abroad

MOGADISHU, Oct 2 (Reuters) - African Union troops and tanks

occupied al Shabaab's former stronghold of Kismayu on Tuesday,

but the Somali Islamist militants gave notice of their intention

to fight back, saying they detonated a bomb in the port city.

The blast points to the al Qaeda-linked rebels' ability to

hit back with covert strikes and continues a pattern of attacks

in other urban strongholds from where they have retreated under

military pressure, including the capital.

A spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, Sheikh

Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the bomb was planted inside a district

administration office building now housing Somali troops and

warned of more attacks.

"This is only an introduction to the forthcoming

explosions," he told Reuters. The militants had succeeded in

"killing many", Musab said.

The government said the explosion caused no casualties.

Kenyan troops fighting under the AU flag entered Kismayu for

the first time on Tuesday after launching an offensive against

the port on Friday, forcing the rebels to flee.

They followed hundreds of Somali government troops and

allied militia fighters who deployed in the city on Monday.

Al Shabaab's strength is hard to gauge. Mohamud Farah, a

spokesman for Somalia's government forces, said between

4,000-5,000 fighters were hiding in the southern Juba regions.

Hundreds of foreign fighters had joined the insurgency at

its peak from countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya,

Tanzania as well as the United States and Britain, Somalia's

last government said.

"Foreign fighters (also) started leaving when they saw their

space was shrinking," a Nairobi-based security adviser said,

referring to the offensive by African Union and Somali

government troops that has steadily won back rebel-held ground

over the past 14 months.

After the surrender of Kismayu, defection rates among

footsoldiers were also expected to pick up, with the rebel group

seen as a losing proposition.

What will be left behind, analysts say, is a hardline core.

Whether al Shabaab is able to wage a prolonged campaign of

guerrilla attacks on Kismayu will largely hinge on Mogadishu's

success in establishing a regional administration that satisfies

competing clan interests in the south.

"If you have marginalised clans, al Shabaab will find allies

in them. If all clans are on board it will be hard for al

Shabaab to infiltrate Kismayu," the security adviser said.

REGIONAL ECONOMIES AT RISK

Al Shabaab, which formally merged with al Qaeda in February,

has been seen as a major threat to stability in east Africa.

The militants warned that although they had withdrawn from

Kismayu, the AU offensive had not yet dealt the combat-hardened

rebels a knock-out blow and that it would hit back against

Kenyan and Ethiopian targets.

"We shall never spare Kenya and Ethiopia even if they

withdraw their troops. They are age old enemies of Somalia and

we shall fight them be it in their lands or here till the

doomsday," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said.

Police in Kenya said on Tuesday the office of the

anti-terror police unit in Garissa, near the Somali border, was

on fire. It was not clear what started the blaze, but it

followed attacks on police on Sunday and Monday in the Kenyan

town which were blamed on al Shabaab.

There are likely to be growing fears that the militants will

look to carry out more, high profile attacks beyond Somalia's

borders, in a bid to re-establish their jihadist credentials.

"It appears that, with the loss of Kismayu, Shabaab's days

as a quasi-conventional military force occupying and, to an

extent, administering territory within Somalia are over," said

J. Peter Pham of U.S. think-tank the Atlantic Council.

However, Pham said, al Shabaab is far from a spent force.

"In fact, freed of the burden of actual governance ... the

hardline extremists within Shabaab are now actually freer to

evolve into a true terrorist organisation and possibly pose a

greater threat not just to Somalia, but to neighbouring

countries and possibly beyond," Pham said.

The loss of footholds across southern and central Somalia

means the hardline remnants of al Shabaab will not have access

to the lucrative rackets that previously financed the group.

Even so, Will Hartley of IHS Jane's said al Shabaab was

capable of an attack similar to the suicide bombings in Kampala

that killed 79 people watching the World Cup soccer final in

2010.

"Until they actually lost control of that last territory

(Kismayu), al Shabaab's energies were very much on Somalia,"

Hartley said.

"Having faced quite a significant setback which has severely

damaged their prestige, they may well look to carry out high

profile operations that will look to re-establish their

reputation."