Residents flee Somali rebel enclave after air attack

Residents flee Somali rebel enclave after air attack

Scores of residents fled a Somali rebel stronghold close to the capital on Monday after what appeared to be a night-time missile strike aimed at a militant base.

People in the town of Afgoye, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital Mogadishu, heard a loud explosion from the direction of a known al Shabaab base, housed in former government buildings.

Residents said there had been insurgent activity in the area on Sunday amid rumours that top rebel commanders were meeting.

“I am sure there was a meeting going on in the base near the orphanage. Armoured cars and expensive 4x4s were buzzing around yesterday afternoon”, resident Osman Odowa told reporters.

“One of the missiles struck right around there”, Odowa said from Afgoye, a strategic junction on the road leading from the capital to the south of the Horn of Africa nation.

Kenya denied involvement

Kenya, which sent hundreds of troops across its border into Somalia five weeks ago to crush the Islamist militants and has threatened air strikes on rebel enclaves, denied involvement.

“We did not carry out that attack”,  Kenyan army spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir told reporters.

An al Shabaab official who declined to be named said two missiles were fired from warships off the coast and there were no casualties. It was not possible to verify his account.

REUTERS/Ehimen/Williams