Kenyan soldiers kill 15 Al-Shabaab militants in Somali operation

Kenyan soldiers on Monday killed 15 Al-Shabaab terrorists and injured several others in an attack in southern Somalia near the border with Kenya.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman Joseph Owuoth said KDF soldiers operating under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) had identified an Al-Shabaab terrorist camp west of Catamaa, about 104 km from the border town of El-Wak, Gedo region.

"The KDF/AMISOM detachment from a nearby location engaged the terrorists using artillery and mortar fire and successfully destroyed the terrorist camp," Owuoth said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

He said KDF's onslaught against the Somali militants would continue until all terrorists who have been waging daily attacks against the Somali government are eliminated.

The AMISOM forces have been active in the recent past after attacks on its bases in southern Somalia in 2016 and 2017 left several Kenyan soldiers dead and others injured.

Al-Shabaab, which has teamed up with al-Qaida, has vowed reprisal attacks in Kenya, 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.

The East African nation launched cross-border entry into Somalia in October 2011 in pursuit of the militants blamed for a series of grenade and landmine attacks in Nairobi, Mombasa and the northern region. Enditem