Explosions heard in rebel controlled southern Somalia town

Loud explosions were heard overnight in the rebel-run southern Somali town of Afgooye on the southwestern outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, residents said Monday.

Witnesses in Afgooye, 30 km southwest of Mogadishu, said they saw flash of light that lit the night skies before hearing huge explosions in the small town, which is among the 10 named by the Kenyan military for possible airstrikes.

"The sound was very huge and we saw flashing light before the big bangs that shook the town. We don't know if anybody was hurt," Fadumo Elmi, a resident in Afgooye, told Xinhua.

Other residents in the town said they were frightened by the blasts that also hit other areas close to Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab have denied the reports of the explosions in Afgooye and in other areas close to Mogadishu saying it was media propaganda aimed at "intimidating the Muslims."

Kenyan and Somali government forces have been carrying out joint military operations against the rebel group of Al-Shabaab in the southern border provinces after Al-Shabaab allegedly launched cross-border raids into Kenya to abduct four foreigners and take them back into Somalia.

The Kenyan military warned that they will carry out strikes against 10 Al-Shabaab controlled towns in the south of the war-torn country following reports that planes carrying weapons for the militant fighters landed in the southern town of Baidoa.

Several raids were waged by the Kenyan military aircraft against a number of towns in the south of Somalia as part of the ongoing military offensive against the group.

The Somali and Kenyan governments said the aim of the offensive is to dislodge the group from the southern part of the Horn of Africa country.