Kenyan and Somali troops advanced on an Islamist-held town in southern Somalia on Thursday and African Union peacekeepers moved on one of the last pockets under militant control in the capital Mogadishu.

Nairobi launched a cross-border incursion into Somalia to flush out rebels from its porous frontier area after a series of kidnappings of foreigners in Kenya. The abductions were carried out by gunmen thought to be linked to the al-Shabaab rebels, allied to al-Qaeda.

Officials in Kenya, the region's biggest economy, say the operation into its anarchic neighbour is needed to protect its multi-million dollar tourism industry and reputation as a relatively stable investment destination.

"The military response on al-Shabaab will not affect tourism activities in the country owing to a raft of security measures already in place to secure all tourist activities," Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala said in a statement."Kenya will not be cowed by threats from al Shabaab and will continue to fight in a bid to avert any further threat to the country's stability."

Struggle for progress
But Kenya's troops, backed by Somali government forces, have found it difficult to make much progress through torrential rains and heavy, muddy soil. On Wednesday, a Kenyan military spokesman said the army had secured three towns.

Al-Shabaab said they had seen Kenyan troops in the towns of Taabto, Qoqani and near the border town of Elwaq but denied that any fighting had taken place. "We have advanced. We are now close to Afmadow," Somali Colonel Yasin Adan said from an area near Afmadow. "Our allied forces (Kenyan troops) are with us. We cannot wait for the soil to dry. We are moving slowly, slowly."

Al-Shabaab's fighters have hunkered down in Afmadow, a stronghold which serves as a transit point for goods from the port in Kismayu, about 120 km (75 miles) south of Afmadow.

Tension mounts
"Tension is high in Afmadow. Whenever we open our shops, people scare us and say, 'The Kenyan troops have come,'" said Afmadow resident Hawa Gadid. "Al-Shabaab have been forcibly picking teenagers from their houses in the last 48 hours (to fight). They are determined to fight the Kenyans come what may. Afmadow is al-Shabaab's frontline," she said, adding truckloads of fighters were arriving from other regions.

A senior Somali commander said the operation's aim was to rid Kismayu, a port city that serves as al-Shabaab's nerve centre for operations, of the militants.

Residents said planes were flying low over Kismayu. A fighter from Ras Kamboni, a militia nominally allied to the government, said his fighters and Kenyan troops had passed through islands along the coastline beyond Kismayu.

"Our militia and Kenyan troops have approached through the coastline -- Kenya puts focus on these islands because if they are secured, there will be no abductions," said the fighter who declined to be named.

Source: Reuters