The Kenyan army has captured Somalia’s Indian Ocean port of Kismayo, driving Al Qaeda’s Somali franchise Al Shabaab out of its last strategic stronghold, the key to controlling southern Somalia. The small Kenyan army, navy and air force fought to victory Saturday, Sept. 29, after a year-long ground, sea and air offensive.
Fearing the Shabaab was feigning defeat and lurking in the town’s alleys to strike back, Kenyan warships backed by the French Navy shelled suspected terrorist hideouts in Kismayo Sunday.

Kismayo was Nairobi’s prime goal when exactly a year ago, the Kenyan army launched its drive into Somalia following the failure of UN-backed intervention for ridding Somalia of the Islamist terrorists long plaguing the country.
With a population of 200,000, Kismayo, which lies 328 miles southwest of Mogadishu near the mouth of the Jubba River, is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubalanand region of Somalia which abuts on Kenya.

Very few Western military experts rated the Kenyan army of only 60,000 soldiers capable of routing the hard-bitten 25,000 Shabaab militants and capturing a sizeable region of Somalia – a feat which famously defeated US elite forces in 1993 in Mogadishu and forced the Ethiopian army to retreat with heavy losses in 2006.

http://debka.com/article/22396/Kenyan-army’s-outstanding-victory-over-Al-Qaeda’s-Somali-Shabaab-Israeli-advisers-helped

shymexx: ^^^^Don't you think we need them to train Nigerian soldiers on how to deal with Islamists??

ekt_bear: the kenyans should incorporate somalia into their own country. Or colonize it

The presence of Kenyan forces in Kismayu is intended to be part of “a very temporary liberation strategy” and will not amount to a military occupation of the southern Somalia port city, a top US diplomat said on Monday.

“Kenya has no interest in trying to establish political authority there,” US Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson told reporters in a conference call. “They simply want to drive out al-Shabaab and to help create the stability that has long been absent.”

“Kenya's presence (in Kismayu) is not intended to be a military occupation,” the former US Ambassador to Kenya declared.

The aim instead is to allow Somalia's government, along with Amisom and the United Nations, to take control of Kismayu “very quickly,” Ambassador Carson added.

“We recognise that Kismayu is comprised of a number of clans and sub-clans, and that there will be clan competition,” Ambassador Carson said.

He praised Kenya's military role in Somalia, saying, “Much credit for operations in Kismayu goes to the Kenyan forces that are part of Amisom.”

Kenyan military planners duped Al-Shabaab into believing that a land invasion of their last remaining bastion of Kismayu was imminent before making an amphibious landing from the sea.

While Al-Shabaab planned its defences based on that assumption, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) in the Horn of Africa country, was training at sea.

“As the KAF (Kenya Air Force) engaged in aerial attacks the other forces were moving in by sea, from where they were to disembark. Essentially, it was intended to divert attention, especially from the Al-Shabaab.

That’s why you (the media) did not know about it yesterday (Thursday),” said Col Cyrus Oguna, the KDF spokesman.

The surprise landing in Somalia’s coastal city of Kismayu by Kenyan troops on Friday was the culmination of a three-day secret undertaking, the Saturday Nation can reveal.

It involved attacks from the air, land and sea, all happening at the same time, and was codenamed Operation Sledge Hammer.

It was the first time the KDF ground troops set foot in Kismayu, the stronghold of terrorist group Al-Shabaab, since the Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia in October last year. (READ: Kenya declares Kismayu fall imminent)

Landed in middle of the night

The operation involved bombing by KAF F-5 jets and more shelling by Kenya Navy ships from the Indian Ocean with the ultimate aim – landing Kenya Army troops in the city – being executed in the middle of the night.Col Oguna, the operations officer in charge of Information at KDF, said: “By 2am (Friday), the last forces had gotten out of the naval vessels and were safely on the ground. It has been on for the past three days and that’s why there were air strikes in key Al-Shabaab logistical bases.”

The high-ranking officer left his usual station in Nairobi for Kismayu and arrived with the fighting troops so as to provide regular updates from the battleground.

Col Oguna said the capture, a secret undertaking, was an “amphibious operation”, an organised military landing by means of combined naval and land forces.

Military officers and analysts have since dubbed it the first of its kind in Africa.

The strategy was all along to make the Al-Shabaab believe that the attack on Kismayu would be launched by ground troops advancing by road, most probably the ones at Jana Abdalla, the most recent township to be captured by KDF before Friday’s onslaught.
He said the attack was given a codename because it was the ultimate prize in Sector 2, the area assigned to KDF by Amisom.

“The major operation in Sector 2 was Kismayu,” said Col Oguna.

“Removal of Al-Shabaab would signal the complete destruction of its control of all the financial and logistical operations.

“We needed a hammer to accomplish it; hence ‘Operation Sledge Hammer’. Kismayu supported all other sectors, including 1, 3 and 4.”

Military headquarters in Nairobi described the operation thus in a post on its official Twitter account: “KDF and SNA undertook meticulous planning on the operation and executed it with utmost effectiveness never before seen in Africa.”

It said an “amphibious operation” was of the kind which are “complicated, delicate and highly dangerous to execute.”
Besides arriving at the sea port, other military personnel, mainly drawn from Special Forces, an elite squad of KDF, landed at Kismayu Airport and took control.
By Friday night, the troops were going on with the operation aimed at taking control of the whole of Kismayu.

The airport was on Wednesday bombed by KAF fighter jets, destroying an Al-Shabaab armoury and warehouse.

The airstrikes were described by the DoD as “surgical operations,” because only specific targets were targeted and hit, including training camps, defence posts and other areas where the militias were concentrated.

KDF urged Kismayu residents to keep off areas with large number of Al-Shabaab fighters to be safe from crossfire.

It also urged Al-Shabaab to lay down their arms, adding that Kenyans who had joined the terrorist group in Somalia would be granted amnesty after they surrender.

After the combined force of ground and naval forces struck the port, the majority of Al-Shabaab fighters fled.

“Some of them just melted into the community but we still expect some little resistance, which we are ready to neutralise,” said military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir.

The KDF destroyed several technical vehicles left behind by the fleeing militants during the take-over, which is said to have lasted less than three hours, he added.

By daybreak, the Kenyan troops had taken control of most parts of the town.

African Union forces and the Somali National Army have tightened control of Kismayu and by Tuesday had occupied the city’s new airport.

Local residents have welcomed the Kenya Defence Force and SNA soldiers although a mood of fear hangs over the city, formerly Al-Shabaab’s most valuable asset.

"Residents are on high alert and they really fear some of the al-Shabaab who have shaved off their beards and joined the crowd to carry out gorilla attacks and suicide attacks.

"Apparently, if those (al-Shabaab) who have joined the ordinary people notice that you are supporting the forces that have liberated the city, they will kill you.

"But that did not stop the people from praising Amisom forces and giving them a warm welcome,” said Abdullahi, who gave only one of his names.

A call by a fanatical cleric for town residents to pour into the streets and resist “the unbelievers”, Al-Shabaab’s name for Amisom forces, the Somali National Army (described colourfully in fanatical propaganda as “the apostate militia”) were ignored by residents, who remained indoors.
“Kismayu is finally under control of the Amisom and Somali National Army and the people of Kismayu have received them with cheers,” he said.


“Today, the forces have cleared 16 vehicles in several road blocks set up in the city. The vehicles carried over 100 civilians moving back into the port city following reports that it was safe,” he said.

pendo89:

Never.Kenya is a sovereign state with it's own issues to worry about.Infact, if that were to ever happen, I would denounce my citizenship.



Nosing.lol.

texazzpete: The OP is daft.

The US dropped a handful of elite soldiers into a VERY hostile neighbourhood and succeeded in carrying out their initial mission (capturing local warlords). The plan only went awry when a US helicopter was shut down. The resulting rescue operation kept the US soldiers in the area until nightfall, where they were involved in an intense firefight. 20 US soldiers died compared to between 315 - 1500 Somali forces dead.

So...fact check

1) The US did not fight Al Shabaab or engage any Somali forces in a protracted ground offensive. Al Shabaab did not exist then
2)The US troops withdrew...a kill ratio of 20 to 1500 does not count as 'defeated'

The Kenyans basically haven't done anything more than what Nigerians have done in Liberia and Sierra leone. A true test would be if they had to fight a guerilla war with Al Shabaab

texazzpete: The OP is daft.

The US dropped a handful of elite soldiers into a VERY hostile neighbourhood and succeeded in carrying out their initial mission (capturing local warlords). The plan only went awry when a US helicopter was shut down. The resulting rescue operation kept the US soldiers in the area until nightfall, where they were involved in an intense firefight. 20 US soldiers died compared to between 315 - 1500 Somali forces dead.

So...fact check

1) The US did not fight Al Shabaab or engage any Somali forces in a protracted ground offensive. Al Shabaab did not exist then
2)The US troops withdrew...a kill ratio of 20 to 1500 does not count as 'defeated'

The Kenyans basically haven't done anything more than what Nigerians have done in Liberia and Sierra leone. A true test would be if they had to fight a guerilla war with Al Shabaab

texazzpete: The OP is daft.

[size=18pt]The US dropped a handful of elite soldiers into a VERY hostile neighbourhood and succeeded in carrying out their initial mission (capturing local warlords). The plan only went awry when a US helicopter was shut down. The resulting rescue operation kept the US soldiers in the area until nightfall, where they were involved in an intense firefight. 20 US soldiers died compared to between 315 - 1500 Somali forces dead.[/size]

[size=18pt]So...fact check

1) The US did not fight Al Shabaab or engage any Somali forces in a protracted ground offensive. Al Shabaab did not exist then

2)The US troops withdrew...a kill ratio of 20 to 1500 does not count as 'defeated'[/size]

The Kenyans basically haven't done anything more than what Nigerians have done in Liberia and Sierra leone. A true test would be if they had to fight a guerilla war with Al Shabaab

andrewza:

Darn you beet me to it. I will hd the only reason America left is because there civilian population has no back bone and is weak willed.



It is one thing to dislike America but to manufacture fake facts about. How bad they are makes the OP a fool.

sambos994: I have said this many time before. No one gives a s**t about Somalia.

Blyss: Humm, now why cant Nigeria do the same in Niger, where loads of terriorist pore over the border into Nigeria every day? If the Nigerien gov. is unable and or unwilling to stop the flow, perhaps Nigeria should grow a pair and do as Kenya has and go there and stop it for them.

shymexx: ^^^^Don't you think we need them to train Nigerian soldiers on how to deal with Islamists??

texazzpete: The OP is daft.

The US dropped a handful of elite soldiers into a VERY hostile neighbourhood and succeeded in carrying out their initial mission (capturing local warlords). The plan only went awry when a US helicopter was shut down. The resulting rescue operation kept the US soldiers in the area until nightfall, where they were involved in an intense firefight. 20 US soldiers died compared to between 315 - 1500 Somali forces dead.

So...fact check

1) The US did not fight Al Shabaab or engage any Somali forces in a protracted ground offensive. Al Shabaab did not exist then
2)The US troops withdrew...a kill ratio of 20 to 1500 does not count as 'defeated'

The Kenyans basically haven't done anything more than what Nigerians have done in Liberia and Sierra leone. A true test would be if they had to fight a guerilla war with Al Shabaab