By PATRICK MAYOYO pmayoyo@ke.nationmedia.com and ABDULKADIR KHALIF khalifos@hotmail.com
Posted Sunday, November 13 2011 at 22:30
Posted Sunday, November 13 2011 at 22:30
Kenyan and Somali troops on Saturday night killed nine Al-Shabaab militiamen after a joint patrol came across a camp of the extremist group in Gedo region in southern Somalia.
Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said that four Kenya soldiers were injured in the firefight. (Read:Al-Shabaab change of tack may prolong the war in Somalia)
Three were treated and are back with their respective units, but “one is in critical condition and was airlifted to Garissa for medical attention.”
Reports from the Nation correspondent in Mogadishu, however, say the clash came after Al-Shabaab fighters attacked a Kenyan position.
Major Chirchir, said a cache of arms, including rocket propelled grenades, was seized during the operation.
A large group of Al-Shabaab fighters escaped with bullet wounds.
“We believe several escaped with injuries and are likely to be treated in areas of El Wak,” Major Chirchir said, and asked residents to be on the lookout for strangers seeking medical treatment.
“We urge Kenyans in this area to help us in identifying Al-Shabaab members and sympathisers by reporting suspicious characters seeking bullet wound treatment to the authorities,” he said.
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El Wak town is in Mandera Central on the Kenya-Somalia border, while Bur Hagi is the nearest town on the Somali side of the border.
In another incident, also on Saturday night, soldiers conducted an operation in El Wak following a tip-off that weapons were being sold to Al-Shabaab sympathisers. An assortment of arms was recovered.
The arms seized included two AK-47 rifles, 191 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, two rocket propelled grenades, one bayonet and $9,200 in cash.
Four men and three women were arrested. Of the four men one is Kenyan while the other three are Somalis. The three women are also Somalis.
Al-Shabaab militants have recently been engaged hit-and-run attacks as well as ambushes against Kenyan troops travelling within the Juba region, especially between the border town of Dobley and Tabto, some 80 kilometres from the frontier.
The latest attack happened as Kenya asked the United Nations Security Council to help consolidate and extend the campaign to neutralise Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia.
Kenya’s ambassador to the UN, Mr Macharia Kamau, said the Security Council should facilitate deployment of African Union (Amisom) troops in areas wrestled from Al-Shabaab.
He added that Kenya is still seeking to persuade Security Council members to initiate a naval blockade of Kismayu, the port through which the Al-Shabaab derives much of its revenue.
Mr Kamau also gave a positive assessment of Kenya’s military operation in southern Somalia. It is “more than 50 per cent completed,” he told the Nation, “and has met its primary objective of creating a buffer zone to secure the border of Kenya.”
“We are trying to consolidate these gains and make sure there is no re-infiltration of border regions by armed elements,” Mr Kamau said.
He cautioned, however, that “the war is still on and the nerve centre of Al-Shabaab in Kismayu still stands.”
A UN-backed dispatch of Amisom troops into “liberated” parts of southern Somalia would be a welcome step, the ambassador said.
He implied that Kenyan forces will not attack Kismayu. Such a scenario is largely the product of media speculation and has not been the officially stated intention of the Kenyan military, the envoy said.
However, the military spokesman in Kenya has repeatedly said that the ultimate aim is to capture Kismayu and restore Somali government control.
The possibility of a blockade of Kismayu remains “very much alive,” Mr Kamau reported, even though the United States has publicly indicated it has little enthusiasm for such a move.
Additional reporting by Kevin KellyThe British Government has officially endorsed Kenya’s military operation in Somalia.
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