BY VITALIS KIMUTAI
Hundreds of foreigners fighting alongside the Al Shabaab in Somalia have retreated further into towns bordering Kismayu following the assault by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
Foreigners from US, UK, India, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Nigeria and Iraq are enlisted into the Al Shabaab terror group and a large number have been killed since the Africa Union led mission to enforce peace in the country started.
Young men from Kenya were recruited from various slums in Nairobi, Coast and Maua area in Meru by Al Shabaab operatives.
The youth receive basic training in handling small arms and explosives before being deployed to the battleground to counter the advancing KDF forces who are now operating under Amison.
The recruits are said to be under the command of foreigners, some of whom are seasoned fighters in unconventional war while others served in militaries of various countries.
Fighters captured by Kenya have revealed how they were tricked into enlisting in the militia group and the unfulfilled promises like being paid handsomely.
“Those who were wounded have been evacuated from the battlefield by their fellow militants ceding ground to KDF, the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces and the Ras Kamboni Brigade,” Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Nyagah told The Standard.
Nyagah, the Commanding Officer first battle group, told journalists in Afmadhow town, which was recently liberated from the Al Shabaab that the militants were being hunted down.
“They no longer have the cohesion and ability to fight following the sustained assault by KDF and most of them are retreating to Somaliland or taking off to countries still sympathetic to their cause,” Nyagah revealed.
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Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, who is in charge of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, separately confirmed that foreigners had been enlisted by the Al Shabaab.
“The foreigners will be driven out of Somalia as they cannot match the fighting power of the joint forces and superiority of the arms deployed in the battle field,” Madobe said. Brigadier General Ismael Sahardid Keydsanen of the Somali National Army (SNA) said some of the foreigners had been forcibly enlisted and deployed to the war front.
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