Kenyan fighter jets attack airport in Somalia

Kenyan troops patrol in Somalia. (file photo)

Wed Sep 26, 2012 3:41AM GMT

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Kenyan fighter jets have bombed an al-Shabab-controlled airport in the port city of Kismayo in southern Somalia.

"Our forces have reached Kismayo with jets, and they have destroyed the armory and a warehouse used by al-Shabab at the airport," Kenyan army spokesman Cyrus Oguna said on Tuesday.

However, al-Shabab officials say the attack did not cause any casualties or losses.

"No one was killed, and there was no property damage," al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamoud Rage said, adding, "The Kenyan air force was maybe trying to boost the morale of its demoralized soldiers."

According to reports, residents in the area heard three heavy blasts near the airport where al-Shabab fighters are based.

Kenya has carried out many airstrikes on Somalia in the past few months.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for more than five years and is propped up by a 10,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.