SOMALIA - Warplanes on Sunday ravaged Al-shabaab bases in their stronghold town of Jilib in southern Somalia's Middle Juba region, about 320 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu, Somalia's Capital.
Senior Al-Shabaab commander, Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Hamze, said warplanes had struck the town, but denied any casualties.
"The enemy tried to terrorise the children and women by dropping bombs in the suburbs of the city, but thanks to God, there were no casualties at all," Abu Hamze said by telephone, "The mujahedeen fighters have managed to repel the enemy with anti-aircraft weaponry. They have fled."
It was not immediately clear where the jets were from but Kenya which is part of the AU force, is known to have used its air planes to attack Al-Shabaab bases in the past.
Despite Somalia government's insistence that it has improved security, the Al-shabaab have continued to carry out bombings — even targeting aid workers — in their bid to overthrow Somalia's internationally backed but fragile leadership.
Recent Al-shabaab attacks have targeted key areas of government, or the security forces, apparently to discredit claims by the authorities that they were winning the war against the Islamist fighters. Terrorist attacks in the wider region especially Kenya have at times been blamed on the insurgents.
The United States on Saturday said it was preparing to cut staff levels at its Nairobi embassy due to mounting threats of attacks in Kenya by Islamist militants.
Earlier this week Britain, France and Australia also updated travel advisories for their citizens in Kenya, following a chain of grenade attacks in and out of Kenya's capital.
Kenyan hoteliers however criticized the travel advisories saying they were moves to deliberately sabotage Kenya's tourism economy which is heavily dependent on visitors from those countries.
In Somalia, continued conflict, compounded by poor rains and funding shortfalls, are threatening the few gains made since an extreme famine less than three years ago, with the UN and aid agencies warning that the troubled country could be sliding back into a food crisis.
Somalia was the hardest hit by extreme drought in 2011 that affected over 13 million people across the Horn of Africa, with famine zones declared in large parts of the war-ravaged south.
Some 250,000 people, around half of them young children, died in Somalia during that famine, according to the United Nations, which has acknowledged it should have done more to prevent the tragedy.
Among the warning signs today is the fact that seasonal rains crucial for farming and usually lasting from April to June have yet to start in key southern areas of Somalia.
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