Kenyan jets bomb Al-shabaab bases in Somalia

MOGADISHU: The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on Monday reported that Kenyan fighter jets had bombed bases of Somalia’s terror group, Al-Shabaab with at least 80 militants killed.

The air strikes targeted the impoverished villages of Anole and Kuday in the southern Lower Juba region and are a part of the sustained offensive by the 22,000-strong AU force.

“AMISOM forces have conducted airstrikes as part of a sustained effort to destroy Al-Shabaab’s military capabilities,” AMISOM said in a statement, adding that Kenyan air planes had carried out the bombings.

Shabaab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said Kenyan troops with the AU were also fighting the Islamists on the ground on Monday, with jets and attack helicopters firing in support.

The air strikes come one week after the Shabaab claimed responsibility for twin massacres on Kenya’s coast in which at least 60 people were killed, although some politicians had blamed the massacre on ethnic incitement.

The Shabaab said it carried out the attacks in revenge for Kenya’s military role in southern Somalia.

At Anole, the AU said airstrikes left more than 30 Al-Shabaab fighters dead, while in Kuday, they reported to have killed more than 50 militants.

It was not immediately possible to verify the statistics although the Al-Shabaab boasted of ambushing a Kenyan army convoy inside Somalia. They said they had killed  several Kenyan soldiers and that their bodies were left lying in the battle zone.

“Kenya’s army is using helicopters and fighters jets to rescue their surrounded troops,” a member of the Shabaab group is reported to have said.

After withdrawing from fixed positions in the capital Mogadishu nearly three years ago, the Shabaab have lost most large towns to the AU and government soldiers. However, they still launch regular guerrilla raids.

Recent Shabaab 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 were winning the war.

Foreign diplomats say the Shabaab threaten several nations in East Africa, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, who all have troops in Somalia.