Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab rushed reinforcements to Somalia's southern border with Kenya on Monday in response to a Kenyan cross-border offensive. The Islamist militants threatened to take the "flames of war" across.

Kenyan troops launched an offensive with Somali forces in southern Somalia on Sunday in a risky attempt to secure the border with the anarchic country and end a wave of kidnappings that have hit Kenya's reputation among tourists and investors.

The Islamist militants, who have wrested control of much of Somalia from a weak internationally backed interim government and warlords, threatened major retaliation. The Kenyan military said the operation, involving air and ground raids, was going well and had driven the rebels back.

Rebel stronghold
Residents in southern Somalia said both sides were heading towards the town of Afmadow, a rebel stronghold, until air strikes on Sunday on nearby rebel camps dislodged their grip.

Afmadow town elder Abdi Gaboobe said the militants had deployed fighters around the city and were digging trenches in anticipation of a clash, while another resident said hundreds of fighters were seen hiding in jungles surrounding the town.

Sugule Farah, a telephone operator in Afmadow, said he saw al-Shabaab fighters chanting 'Allahu Akbar’ (God is Great). "People are scared and are trying to find ways to move either to Kismayu or to refugee camps. But it's raining and no more cars can leave," Gaboobe said.

Al-Shabaab warns Kenya
As columns of al-Shabaab technicals -- open-backed 4x4s mounted with heavy machine guns -- raced towards Afmadow, the militants' spokesman warned Kenya to pull its troops out of Somalia or face retribution.
"Kenyan troops have entered 100 km (62 miles) into Somalia and their planes bombarded many places and killed residents," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told reporters south of Mogadishu. "We shall come into Kenya if you do not go back. Do not let the flames of this war spill over into your country," Rage said in a statement.

Al-Shabaab denies abductions
Kenya has blamed al Shabaab for the abduction of two Spanish aid workers last week from the world's biggest refugee camp close to the border with Somalia. Rage dismissed the accusation and said the militants were also not responsible for the recent kidnapping of a disabled French woman and a British holiday maker from the north Kenyan coast in two separate incidents.

"Kenyan troops have entered Somalia under the pretext of chasing hostages. Al-Shabaab is not behind any abduction." Security sources say the British and French women are being held in al-Shabaab controlled territory in central Somalia, highlighting cooperation between the militants and criminal networks such as pirates who hijack vessels for ransom.

Source: Reuters