AU forces kill 7 Al-Shabaab militants in S. Somalia

Kenyan military confirmed Friday African Union (AU) and Somali forces killed seven Al-Shabaab militants and recovered five firearms in a security operation that also saw the capture of the strategic town of Dinsoor in southern Somalia.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman Colonel David Obonyo said the successive capture of Bardhere and Dinsor towns were coordinated with the Ethiopian troops in an AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) operation commenced a week ago.

"The Dinsoor town is now under AMISOM/Somali National Army control after the Al-Shabaab fled with little resistance under heavy fire," Obonyo said.

He said AU forces, who have intensified their onslaught on the insurgents in southern part of the Horn of Africa nation in the past two weeks, did not suffer any casualties.

The spokesman said both Bardhere, which was captured on Wednesday, and Dinsoor on Friday, have been major planning, operational and logistics bases for the militants and its loss will seriously affect and weaken the militants further.

"The capture of Bardere and Dinsoor towns is a significant achievement in the fight against the militants and is a major step towards the achievement of AMISOM mandate to restore security and stability to Somalia," he said.

The airstrike bombardments have increased this week while on the ground the army coordinated the operations to rid off the militants,who have caused insecurity along the border with Kenya,in the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Kenya. Endit