Allies hunt Shabaab fighters door-to-door

A door-to-door operation has been launched to flush out Al-Shabaab remnants in towns and centres captured by the Kenyan Defence Forces and their Somali Transitional Federal Government allies.

Kenya military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said that the allied troops were conducting patrols and searching houses in several towns.

“The focus is to ensure that these towns and villages are free of Al-Shabaab,” Maj Chirchir told the Nation. (READ: Al-Shabaab on the run in south zone)

Looking for weapons

The door-to-door search started on Tuesday and will cover towns such as Ras Kamboni, Mnarani, Burgavo, Tabda, Beles Qooqani, Dhobley, Busar and Jilib, which are now under the control of the Kenyan troops and the Somali army.

“The exercise is being run simultaneously in the Northern, Central and Southern sectors to ensure that no Al-Shabaab militants are hiding in the towns under our control.

“We are also looking for any weapons that could be hidden in the towns and villages as well as trying to obtain information from locals on the possible hideouts for the Al-Shabaab,” Major Chirchir said.

The Kenya Navy, meanwhile, announced that its operations on the Indian Ocean had so far eliminated piracy incidents around the Somalia coast close to Kenya.

Nation Media Group has news teams embedded with the Kenyan military at sea and on land though this report contains material gathered in Nairobi.

Besides flushing out the militants and impounding hidden weapons, the Kenyan troops want to open up the towns for international humanitarian organisations to deliver supplies, Maj Chirchir said in Nairobi.

“Today, the KDF forces at the battlefront were involved in patrols and pacification in the liberated areas and Al-Shabaab pockets,” said Major Chirchir.

“This pacification patrols reinforce the operation objectives and facilitate access by international aid organisations in the liberated areas,” he added.

The Kenyan troops are on the third week of Operation Linda Nchi in Somalia aimed against the extremist militia blamed for insecurity across the Horn of Africa.

The ultimate plan is to capture the two Al Shabaab strongholds of Afmadow and Kismayu and allow TFG to take control.

It was not immediately clear whether the troops had captured any Al-Shabaab fighters in the door-to-door operation. Maj Chirchir however said the exercise would be extended to surrounding villages.

The Kenya Navy has in the meantime been conducting patrols in the Indian Ocean to keep out the militants and have so far sunk two enemy boats, killing over ten members of the Al-Shabaab in the process, according to the military. (READ: Kenya Navy sinks boat believed to be carrying rebels)

However there have been protests that one of the boats reported sunk was actually crewed by local fishermen.

In southern Somalia, the leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, fighting alongside TFG forces and the Kenyan military, said the areas freed from Al-Shaabab control urgently require food aid and medicine.