Posted on 09/29/2012 12:06:44 AM PDT by spetznaz
Kenyan military planners duped Al-Shabaab into believing that a land invasion of their last remaining bastion of Kismayu was imminent before making an amphibious landing from the sea.
While Al-Shabaab planned its defences based on that assumption, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) in the Horn of Africa country, was training at sea.
“As the KAF (Kenya Air Force) engaged in aerial attacks the other forces were moving in by sea, from where they were to disembark. Essentially, it was intended to divert attention, especially from the Al-Shabaab.
That’s why you (the media) did not know about it yesterday (Thursday),” said Col Cyrus Oguna, the KDF spokesman.
The surprise landing in Somalia’s coastal city of Kismayu by Kenyan troops on Friday was the culmination of a three-day secret undertaking, the Saturday Nation can reveal.
It involved attacks from the air, land and sea, all happening at the same time, and was codenamed Operation Sledge Hammer.
It was the first time the KDF ground troops set foot in Kismayu, the stronghold of terrorist group Al-Shabaab, since the Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia in October last year. (READ: Kenya declares Kismayu fall imminent)
Landed in middle of the night
The operation involved bombing by KAF F-5 jets and more shelling by Kenya Navy ships from the Indian Ocean with the ultimate aim – landing Kenya Army troops in the city – being executed in the middle of the night.
Col Oguna, the operations officer in charge of Information at KDF, said: “By 2am (Friday), the last forces had gotten out of the naval vessels and were safely on the ground. It has been on for the past three days and that’s why there were air strikes in key Al-Shabaab logistical bases.”
The high-ranking officer left his usual station in Nairobi for Kismayu and arrived with the fighting troops so as to provide regular updates from the battleground.
Col Oguna said the capture, a secret undertaking, was an “amphibious operation”, an organised military landing by means of combined naval and land forces.
Military officers and analysts have since dubbed it the first of its kind in Africa.
The strategy was all along to make the Al-Shabaab believe that the attack on Kismayu would be launched by ground troops advancing by road, most probably the ones at Jana Abdalla, the most recent township to be captured by KDF before Friday’s onslaught.
Well done. Now can you come to the US and take Obama back to his shack?
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Loads of steath Obamabots on Free Republic
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- That is my last spelling error for the next 5 minutes.....
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and I thought you were hinting they should get the ‘L’ out of here...(8^D)
Ahh. Someone who understands OPSEC. Well done!
Good work, they did better than the whole freaking UN
Someone who understands that in war you have two enemies, one of which is the fifth columnist liberal media.
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- They often forget/forgot to clean up their FR profile page content before they post comments on the election now
98% is a tiny clue.....
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Thank God JSOC and CIA SAD/SOG teams were there. Had it been CENTCOM or PENTAGON running it, the liberal Muzzie lovers imbedded inside would have blown the whistle to their beloved “freedom fighters”
His cousin is already giving us more than enough problems. Maybe sending him to a third nation? North Korea? I know Chavez of Venezuela seems to like him.
There have been some reports of ‘White faces’ amongst the troops, which is probably indicative of (most probably) JSOC operatives. Kenya went into Somalia following the killing of a British tourist and abduction of a French tourist, but I personally believe that was not the only (or for that matter, the main) reason. Most probably the CIA and/or American special operations provided a lot of direct and indirect assistance. Case in point some of the aerial bombardment. Kenya operates F-5s, and I am doubtful that some of the highly targeted bombing came from dumb bombs dropped from F-5s. More likely to have come from Predators/Reapers. The Kenyan navy also doesn’t operate Tomahawks.
French DGSE, 19eRFP,and GIGN still looking for missing DGSE agent and a couple of consul staff. They don’t fly prisoners out ;)
so it's not just the pay, or the adventure, that attracts these guys to what i've heard can be fierce combat.,
Al Shabaab rebels retreat from key Somali stronghold
Al Shabaab rebels retreat from key Somali stronghold By the 29/09/2012 - 08:33
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants have abandoned the southern Somali port city of Kismayu, their last bastion in the country, a day after an assault by African Union troops.
Al-Shabab rebels pulled out of a key port city in southern Somalia, the group said Saturday, a day after Kenyan troops invaded and marched toward the city center and seaside port that long served as the militants’ key source of funding, officials said.
Residents in Kismayo said they woke to find police and government headquarters abandoned by the militants, sparking a looting spree of the government and police headquarters.
“They withdrew from here last night. The town is not under anyone’s control now,” Mohamed Hassan, a resident, said. “People feel some relief now. We hope no more fighting will take place.”
FRANCE24’s correspondent in Nairobi, Duncan Wood, said that Kenyan forces are situated largely to the north of the city and moving slowly. “They may encounter roadside bombs and also there is a small chance that this withdrawal is effectively propaganda and that the Kenyan army may just be lured into a trap.”
The withdrawal came about 24 hours after Kenyan forces made a beach landing and as inland troops from Somalia and Kenya moved toward the port city from the west.
“Looting and chaos is going on here. Thugs are taking advantage of the vacuum,” Maryan Hussein, another resident, said. “The abandoned houses are being ransacked and the streets are occupied by people carrying belongings.”
Col. Cyrus Oguna, a spokesman for the Kenyan military, said five al-Shabab fighters were killed in a battle overnight. Two commanders were killed in the fighting, the military said.
He said the Kenyan forces are still verifying the reports that al-Shabab had pulled out of Kismayo. “For now we are treating it as a theory,” he said.
The Kenyan troops landed by boats in the northern part of Kismayo on Friday and moved toward the port, he said. He said that al-Shabab lost “many, many militants, including some key commanders” during battles on Friday that involved helicopter gunships.
Al-Shabab used Twitter to announce the news it was leaving Kismayo.
“Last night, after more than 5 years the Islamic administration in Kismayo closed its office,” the tweet said. “Kismayo shall be transformed from a peaceful city governed by Islamic Shari’ah into a battle-zone between Muslims” and invaders.
Al-Shabab found little popular support in Kismayo because of the conservative brand of Islam it tried to impose on residents. Al-Shabab carried out public executions, whippings and amputations as punishments, and enforced a conservative dress code.
Al-Shabab was forced out of Mogadishu in August 2011 and lost one of its major sources of funding when it could no longer tax businesses in the city’s main market. Since then the taxes al-Shabab charged on goods coming into Kismayo’s port were seen as its last major funding source.
As it no longer holds any major cities in Somalia, al-Shabab is expected to operate more as an insurgent force that carries out suicide and roadside bomb attacks.
Well done Kenya. If our special forces or those of our allies are involved, so much the better. I’ve long wished to see our young lions unleashed around the world, and the bodies of terrorist enabling politicians and radical imams stacked like cordwood.
A couple of years back my USMC Infantry son trained in Kenya.
The first half they were instructed by the Kenyans and used all Kenyan equipment. Second half was reversed rolls.
They also received two weeks jungle survival training.
He said it was all enjoyable and informative.
Can we get these guys to stage an amphibious landing in Detroit and Chicago?
Taking notes, Ehud? Or are you too busy trying to evacuate Judah and Samaria as you try to get on the Likud ballot?
Our Task Force 150 operating nearby in the Indian Ocean has enough capability to spare at least a few hours of support from the sea side. You can guess the kind of krap they can heap on any particular band of Ubangis ashore.
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