Mogadishu: Kenya has declared war against a Somali Islamist group and its army stepped up into southern Somalia to pursue al-Shabaab, which it blames for a series of kidnappings inside its territory.
Fighter jets and helicopters have been flying overhead since Kenyan forces moved en masse into Somalia on Sunday. Kenyan Defence Ministry declared Somalia’s al-Qaeda inspired al-Shebab rebels “the enemy”, saying Nairobi intended to track down the kidnappers whose raids on two beach resorts have dealt a major blow to Kenya’s tourism industry.
Witnesses said up to 40 Kenyan vehicles carrying soldiers had passed through the Somali town of Dhobley, near the border. Tanks were also reported. Abdi Yusuf, a senior Somali military commander said that fighter jets struck two al-Shabab bases in southern Somalia, but could not confirm if the aircraft belonged to Kenya.
In just over the past month, a British woman and a French woman have been abducted from beach resorts, while two Spanish aid workers were on Thursday seized from a refugee camp. Several Westerners have been seized in Kenya by suspected Somali militants and taken into Somalia. Two Spanish aid workers were abducted from Kenya’s sprawling Dadaab refugee camp on Thursday.
Somalis were called on to stand united against “this blood-thirsty enemy that has crossed into our territories and the apostate Somali militants helping them”.
Police have blamed the abductions on the Islamist al-Shabaab, but experts say the kidnappings could also be the work of pirates, bandits or opportunistic criminal gangs.
Kenya is still reeling from the kidnapping of the French and British women from coastal regions which has badly damaged its key tourism sector. Several witnesses reported heavy troop movement in Kenya’s border regions, with lorries full of soldiers heading towards the frontier.
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