MOGADISHU, Somalia - Kenya intends to push its troops to Somalia's insurgent stronghold of Kismayo and will stay until there are no Islamist insurgents left, a Kenyan military spokesman said Thursday, as the militants were pushed back on two fronts by pro-Somali government forces supported by foreign troops.
"We are going to be there until the (Somali government) has effectively reduced the capacity of al-Shabab to fire a single round ... We want to ensure there is no al-Shabab," Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir told The Associated Press. "We want to destroy all their weapons."
He said troops have secured a foothold in Ras Kamboni, a town 3 kilometres from the Kenya-Somalia border, and that al-Shabab militants left the town before the Kenyans arrived. Abdinasir Serar, a senior commander with the pro-government militia, confirmed Ras Kamboni had changed hands. The town is where al-Shabab's forerunner, the Islamic Courts Union, made its last stand in the face of an Ethiopian advance in 2007.
"This provides a vantage point for us to clear al-Shabab and pirates from the Somali coast in Kismayo," Chirchir said. "Al-Shabab is in disarray."
His words were the clearest statement yet of Kenya's intentions after it sent troops into Somalia last weekend. Kenya said it was retaliating for a series of raids by Somali gunmen who have attacked and abducted foreigners from Kenyan territory. Two Spanish aid workers, a cancer-stricken quadriplegic Frenchwoman and an Englishwoman have all been seized in the past six weeks; the Englishwoman's husband was killed in the kidnappers' assault. On Wednesday, the French government announced that the Frenchwoman had died.
Kenyan officials have also said they will launch an internal crackdown on Kenyan residents suspected to be helping al-Shabab.
"Our security forces have begun operations within and outside of our borders against militants who have sought to destabilize our country," Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said.
Thursday's speech at Kenya's Nyayo stadium was delivered to nearly empty bleachers -- police had locked out thousands of waiting Kenyans after the president arrived, fearing al-Shabab might try to make good on their threats earlier this week to bomb Kenya.
On Wednesday, the country's internal security minister said that he was planning to "sweep" the country of any underground al-Shabab sympathizers, a statement that sent ripples of fear through Kenya's Somali-speaking community. Many Muslim and Kenyan-Somali leaders have said they fear their communities may be targeted by security services.
Kenyan police are frequently criticized by human rights bodies for corruption and killing or beating civilians. But a lawmaker from a northern constituency sought to reassure Somalis they would not be unfairly detained.
"Whatever sweep they are talking about remains an intent. We have advised (the government) to take whatever security precautions they want to take constitutionally, without infringing on people's rights," said parliament member Adan Keynan . "Anything that is targeting one particular community will not be accepted, it will not be tolerated."
In the Somali capital, al-Shabab was chased out of the capital's northernmost neighborhood, Deynile, in a dawn offensive, residents said. Somali government troops and African Union peacekeepers took control of the area, which the Islamist insurgency used as an execution ground and as an area for carrying out amputations.
"Somali government soldiers and AMISOM are here today and Al-Shabab left," said resident Liban Abdullahi, using a common acronym to refer to the 9,000-strong African Union force of Burundian and Ugandan soldiers. "We wish quiet days will follow, because we were always in trouble living among two warring sides."
A police official said government troops had encountered little resistance during their dawn attack.
"We have captured the whole district, and the anti-peace elements have fled to the outskirts," said Col. Aden Kalmoy, a Somali military spokesman.
Two years ago, al-Shabab held almost all of southern Somalia, and the government was confined to a few city blocks. But the militia has been weakened by a severe drought and famine in its strongholds, a loss of revenue from markets in the capital of Mogadishu, internal divisions and public disgust over their strict punishments, recruitment of child soldiers and indiscriminate bombing. They are also severely outgunned by AU forces.
At the same time, the weak UN-backed Somali government has been strengthened by foreign backers, including military personnel from Burundi, Uganda and Kenya and financial and logistical support from Italy and the U.S. that means that government soldiers have been regularly paid this year for the first time in more than two decades of civil war.
The changes forced al-Shabab to retreat from Mogadishu in August in what its leaders described as a tactical pullout. In response, the militant group has carried out a campaign of suicide bombings. Many have detonated prematurely or been intercepted, including two incidents on Wednesday in which government troops captured a man with explosives, said Lt. Mohamed Nur. A separate roadside bomb killed a man who was trying to plant it, said police official Ali Hassan.
The most devastating attack so far was a truck bomb that killed more than 100 people earlier this month. Many were students seeking information about scholarships in Turkey. Now many Somalis are trying to avoid public places or take back roads to avoid possible violence.
