Stunned by an assault by sea, air and ground forces late on Friday night, al Shabaab rebels fled the city that had been their key source of revenue, retreating to surrounding forests and towns.
The shells may have been targeting any remaining pockets of resistance or military installations in the city that was the rebels' last stronghold.
"The ships were firing deafening shells to the outskirts last night but several shells landed on houses," said Samira Ismail, a local mother of four.
Al Shabaab said two children were killed and other people injured by the shells, a statement rejected as propaganda by Kenyan military spokesman Col. Cyrus Oguna.
Kenyan and Somali troops sent to retake Kismayu from the rebels were still in the town's outskirts, Oguna said, proceeding carefully in case al Shabaab's claim that it had abandoned the city was a ploy to lure them into a trap.
"The troops are consolidating and making plans to expand into the southern part of the city," Oguna told Reuters.
"A lot of caution must be exercised here. We don't want to get into a situation where we start to lose troops here and there."
continued here...
from REUTERS
By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar
Sun Sep 30, 2012 12:20pm GMT
Washington Time
Kabul Time
London Time
0 comments:
Post a Comment