1st LD Writethru: Kenyan soldiers kill senior Al-Shabaab commander

Kenya's military said Thursday its soldiers who are pursuing Islamist militants after last week's attack in southern Somalia have killed the militants' senior commander.

Chief of Defence Forces General Samson Mwathethe told journalists in Nairobi that Maalim Janow was killed in a Kenya Defence Force (KDF) airstrike.

Mwathethe also said the insurgents who are allied to Al-Qaida network used sophisticated weapons loaded with explosives and suicide bombers to attack military bases belonging to the Somali National Army and the KDF, killing an unknown number of troops and captured others.

He said the force of the explosion was three times more than the August 7, 1998 terrorist bombing in Nairobi which killed over 200 people and left more than 5,000 others maimed.

Mwathethe stated that, despite the intensity of the attack, KDF soldiers stood ground and tried to repel the Al-Shabaab, who attacked in three waves.

Al-Shabaab claimed to have killed 100 KDF soldiers and captured 12 of them who are being used as human shield.

The militant group frequently exaggerates the number of troops/civilians they massacre, while African Union mission (AMISOM) rarely gives exact tolls.

Reports from Somalia indicate that the military elite squad, who are highly trained to handle explosives, had to go slow on the mission owing to the danger it posed.

"The safest option was to send in ground troops, we mobilised troops from Mandera, Elwak and Wajir who embarked on a 10-hour movement to reach the concentration area in Damasa. The anti-aircraft guns were positioned at a school in El-Adde and this posed danger to our response teams," Mwathethe said.

The military chief said the insurgents who have been waging daring attacks on the AU peacekeeping mission in the Horn of Africa nation has been receiving funding and logistical support from other international terrorist organisations to carry out the Friday attack.

Mwathethe who has constituted a board of inquiry to investigate the circumstances leading to the attack said the first reinforcement to rescue the injured soldiers arrived at the camp three days after the incident.

"The investigations teams are in full control of the area and would finish the search and rescue mission later today," he said, noting that attempts to provide reinforcement to the soldiers using aircrafts was rendered impossible since the militia had two anti-aircraft guns situated near a school.

He dismissed media reports that the soldiers had prior intelligence on the Al-Shabaab attack at El Adde in Somalia.

"We received the first report of the attack at 06:13hrs on Jan. 15. Attempts to contact the Sector Two commander were futile since the enemy had probably destroyed communication," Mwathethe said.

Kenya has more than 4,000 troops in the 22,000-strong AU force in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle Al-Shabaab, which is part of the Al-Qaida allied terror network.

Kenya is currently engaged in the fight against the militia group in southern Somalia where it has been registering impressive gains and extending humanitarian assistance to the local population.

Al-Shabaab has however, vowed reprisal attacks in the country, mainly targeting security forces in border towns of northern Kenya where dozens of people have been killed in landmine and grenade attacks blamed on the militant group. Endit