Galkayo (Somalia): Fighters from Somalia`s Islamist extremist rebels have started to leave their remaining coastal stronghold in the face of advancing allied African troops, residents and a military official said Tuesday.
Armed militants from al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, left the coastal town of Kismayo in pickup trucks after freeing prisoners in the town`s jail, Muse Hassan, a Kismayo resident said by phone.
The spokesman for the Kenyan army, which is part of the African Union forces fighting al-Shabab militants, said the fighters were fleeing because they sensed defeat. Col Cyrus Oguna said the al-Shabab militants are moving toward the town of Jilib about 130 kilometres northeast of Kismayo. Oguna said Kenyan forces are about 30 kilometres from Kismayo in a town called Jana Cabdalla.
Kismayo resident Hassan also said the militants are moving toward the town of Jilib but that it was not clear if they had abandoned all their positions in Kismayo.
However an al-Shabab spokesman said on Twitter that the reports of militants fleeing Kismayo are "blatant lies."
"The Islamic administration in (hash)Kismayo is going about its business as usual, & the city remains calm & firmly under the control of HSM," one posting said.
Claims and counter-claims made during fighting in Somalia are difficult to verify.
But Yusuf Hashi, another Kismayo resident, said that a few fighters in military dress could be seen along Kismayo`s streets. He said government buildings were empty.
"It feels like the town is under no one`s control now. We hope there`ll be no fighting but a peaceful change," he said. Oguna said the militants had dismantled the transmitters for Radio al-Andalus which the group used to broadcast propaganda.
Abdirashid Hashi, a horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group, says he is not surprised that the militants are moving. The militants have not put up cohesive resistance in the southern Somali towns they once controlled, he said, noting that al-Shabab doesn`t have the firepower to match the tanks, warships and military planes the Kenyan military is using in southern Somalia.
Hashi said the capture of Kismayo by the allied force is imminent and would be a significant victory against the militants who until August 2011 controlled large parts of the capital city, Mogadishu, and much of southern Somalia. However he said al-Shabab would remain a threat as an insurgent force using hit-and-run attacks for a long while.
PTI
