At least 12 people, 9 of them being Kenyans were injured in a renewed fighting between Somalia National Army (SNA) and Jubaland security forces (JSF) at the neighboring Bulahawa town. – By John Mutiso.
Fighting broke out early Monday along Somalia’s border with Kenya, leaving at least nine dead and several injured on both sides of the frontier, according to officials and witnesses.
Somalia accused Kenyan troops of entering the border town of Bulohawo and attacking federal army bases there. Kenya through the ministry of internal security denied any role in the clashes.
Kenya’s Interior Minister Fred Matiangi said the clashes were related to an “internal” conflict in Somalia.
“We are not involved in it and none of our forces has crossed the border to go to Somalia,” he said.
Speaking to a press conference, the Information Minister Osman Abukar Dube said that the Somali forces captured 100 Kenyan-trained rebel militia during the fighting and they are detained in a safe location.
The minister accused Kenya and these militia of having “bombed civilian-populated locations and killing five children and their mother”.
The incident is the latest linked to a political crisis in the semi-autonomous Jubaland region of Somalia which has strained diplomatic relations between the East African countries.
Kenya is a supporter of Jubaland’s regional president Ahmed Madobe, who has been at odds with the federal government in Mogadishu and is refusing to take part in already delayed national elections.
Kenya has written to the African union commission expressing concerns over a looming humanitarian crisis, following the fight at its border with Somalia.
