By Mohamed Ahmed
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali rebels briefly attacked an area bordering Kenya before retreating to the countryside where security sources on Tuesday said the militants were regrouping after a government-led offensive.
The last few days have seen a lull in the military push both in the capital Mogadishu and in the south of the country where government-allied militia earlier this month seized a number of towns from insurgents linked by Washington to al Qaeda.
Residents living along the desert frontier said the Somali al Shabaab insurgents had tried and failed to recapture the border town of Elwaq late on Monday.
"Al Shabaab is regrouping. They have reinforced their number of fighters and raided Elwaq last night but they were unable to recapture it," Ahmed Ismail Zebe, coordinator of a local peace and advocacy group, told Reuters by telephone from Beledhawo.
Residents reported hearing brief gun battles in the area.
The rebels have waged a four-year insurgency to unseat the U.N.-backed interim government in Mogadishu that is propped up by an African Union peacekeeping force that now numbers 9,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi.
"We know al Shabaab is regrouping. The large al Shabaab presence in areas close to our border is a serious security issue," a Kenyan security source said.
The office of Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Tuesday that Israel had pledged to help Kenya police its borders with Somalia and keep fundamentalist forces away.
Al Shabaab this month reiterated a threat to strike Kenya to avenge the east African nation's training of Somali security forces.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre two decades ago and has become a hotspot in the U.S.-led war on Islamic extremism.
Counter-terrorism experts say it has become a haven for foreign jihadists although their numbers are hard to pin down.
In Mogadishu, at least 14 civilians were killed on Tuesday when the militants and peacekeepers traded rounds of artillery fire, an ambulance service worker said.
Worshippers said al Shabaab used prayer sessions to urge men and women to volunteer for the "holy war". In parts of Mogadishu still under rebel control, insurgents pumped out jihadist propaganda from loud speakers mounted on cars.
Source: Reuters