Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents Thursday confirmed the fall of one of their last remaining bases, the southern town of Afmadow, to African Union and allied forces.
“The Mujahedeen fighters tactically withdrew from Afmadow this afternoon and the allied enemy forces have entered the city without fighting,” Shebab commander Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim told AFP by phone.
“Our aim is to let the enemy expand its area of deployment so that we can inflict heavy losses on them,” he added.
Afmadow has been a long-term target ever since Kenyan troops invaded southern Somalia in October before later joining the African Union force.
On Wednesday a Kenyan army spokesman had said Afmadow was falling and that Kenyan troops under the banner of the African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, expected to have taken the town by daybreak Thursday.
Shebab fighters in Afmadow, which lies some 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Kenyan border, had held back Kenyan troops for months, blocking the advance toward the key Shebab-held port of Kismayo.
In October Kenya’s army claimed to be at the point of taking Afmadow but, bogged down by rains and heavy resistance, the troops had since remained stalled outside the town.
Witnesses in Afmadow said the Kenyan troops backing pro-government Somali militia Ras Kamboni carried out aerial bombardments on several positions in the town before entering.
“Two military jets fired several missiles before the foot soldiers backed by tanks entered the city. Afmadow has completely fallen now,” said Mohamed Tifow, a resident.
Abdikarin Ahmed, another witness, confirmed the town had fallen.
The Shebab abandoned their last fixed bases in Mogadishu in August and earlier this month pulled out of Afgoye.
In Mogadishu they have since reverted to guerrilla tactics, claiming a series of suicide attacks and roadside bombs.
Days after vacating Afgoye, they staged an ambush on the convoy of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as he drove down the Afgoye corridor, the road linking Afgoye to the outskirts of the capital.