Kenyans prepare for ground battle

Troops close in on Somalia town

— Kenyan troops in Somalia closed in Saturday on the rebel-held town of Afmadow, where they may fight their first ground battle against al-Qaidalinked militants since launching an offensive last weekend, a military spokesman said.

Hundreds of residents were fleeing Afmadow in anticipation of fighting as Kenyan and Somali troops moved closer.

Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said Kenya’s army was flanking Somalia’s troops and progovernment militia. Afmadow is now controlled by al-Shabab, Somalia’s most dangerous militant group waging a war against the country’s weak United Nations-backed government.

“We believe this movement will create the first ground offensive,” Chirchir said.

Kenya had been bombing militants from the air, but the charge at Afmadow will be the first “man-to-man fighting situation,” he said.

Al-Shabab militants are regrouping in the town of Bula Haji to reinforce their fighters in Afmadow, Chirchir said.

Osman Ahmed, a resident in Afmadow, said there is a lot of tension with militants preparing to do battle with Kenyan and Somali government troops.

“We sleep and wake up with fears, only gunmen and sporadic civilians are crossing the streets. It’s a frightening situation,” he said.

Kenya last weekend sent its troops into Somalia to pursue al-Shabab militants blamed for a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil.

Somali gunmen have kidnapped four Europeans in the past six weeks. One of the hostages, a quadriplegic French woman, died Wednesday.

Kenya’s government says the kidnappings threaten the country’s tourism industry, a key driver of the economy, which had bounced back after near collapse after postelection violence three years ago in which more than 1,000 people died.

Also Saturday, the U.S. Embassy warned that an imminent terrorist attack in Kenya is possible. It said likely targets include places where foreigners congregate, including shopping malls and nightclubs.

In response to the Kenyan military incursion, al-Shabab on Monday threatened to carry out suicide attacks in Kenya similar to those in July that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final in Uganda. Al-Shabab said that attack was a response to Uganda sending troops to support Somalia’s government.

Somalia has been a failed state for more than 20 years. The lawless country is a haven for pirates and international terrorists, and the conflict is causing a major famine that is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives already.

Al-Shabab is blocking aid from reaching hungry Somalis, after it banned major aid groups from operating in the territories it controls.

Chirchir said the overall strategy of Kenya’s military incursion is to reduce al-Shabab’s effectiveness and restore authority to Somalia’s government in order to achieve enduring peace.

African Union troops and government soldiers pushed the al-Shabab militia from their last bases in the capital Thursday, African Union spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said.

Al-Shabab has retreated before the Kenyan forces so far, but the militants have struck back in the Somali capital with a series of bombings, including a truck bomb that killed more than 100 people. On Thursday, they put up a bloody fight when African Union forces arrived in Deynile, al-Shabab’s last base in Mogadishu.

Otherwise, the Kenyan army has met little or no resistance during its push into rebel-controlled areas of Somalia, as it marches toward its ultimate target: the al-Shabab stronghold of Kismayo.

Information for this article was contributed from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by Luc Van Kemenade of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 10 on 10/23/2011

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