Kenya said its navy hit military targets belonging to al Shabaab militants in the port of Kismayu in south Somalia on Wednesday, ahead of a ground assault on the rebels' last bastion. Along with forces from Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti, Kenyan troops have been battling the al Qaeda-linked fighters as part of an African Union peacekeeping force tasked with wiping out the rebels from their strongholds.
Kenyan military spokesman Cyrus Oguna said the Kenyan navy shelled rebel gun placements on the jetty at Kismayu on Wednesday morning, after fighter jets launched air strikes on a warehouse and armoury near the airport on Tuesday. "It is what we call shaping up operations for the eventual attack on Kismayu. The attack by ground forces is not yet (on). What we hit yesterday are targets we have been mapping for some time," Oguna told Reuters.