By James Shimanyula
NAIROBI
Kenyan aircraft have struck two hideouts belonging to the Al-Shabaab militant group near Somalia's Indian Ocean port town of Kismayu, killing more than 80 group members, the military said Friday.
"Our aircraft carried out an offensive on Thursday in Jamaame and Magambo near Kismayu, killing more than 80 Al-Shabaab [militants]," the Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) said in a Friday statement.
"The two Al-Shabaab bases [in Jamaame and Magambo] were used to launch attacks against the newly liberated town of Bulagaduud, which remains under SNA [Somali National Army] and AMISOM [African Union peacekeeping troops] control, along the Kismayu–Jamaame-Jilib Road," the statement, signed by KDF spokesman David Obonyo, added.
According to the statement, four vehicles fitted with machineguns were also destroyed in the offensive.
The statement did not, however, disclose the type or capacity of the vehicles or machineguns destroyed.
The latest airstrikes come two weeks after Kenyan military aircraft struck Gulagadud in Somalia's Jubba region southwest of capital Mogadishu, killing 60 Al-Shabaab militants.
The militant group lost most of its strongholds after AMISOM troops – drawn from five African nations – were dispatched to Somalia in 2007.
Kenya first sent troops to the volatile Horn of Africa nation in 2010 after several foreign tourists were kidnapped by suspected Al-Shabaab militants.
In recent years, the Al-Qaeda-linked group has carried out repeated attacks in Mogadishu on Somali government officials and foreign troops.
They have also carried out intermittent attacks in Kenyan capital Nairobi and in Kenya's northeastern region.
One such attack at Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall in September of last year resulted in the death of 67 people and the injury of hundreds of others.
Meanwhile, Kenya continues to tighten security throughout the country and at entry points along its border with Somalia.
Last week, Kenyan security personnel intercepted a four-wheel-drive vehicle at the Kenya-Somalia border, killing five of its occupants.
According to police, the vehicle, which bore Kenyan license plates, had been laden with explosives.
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