Скачать или смотреть Battle for Kismayo-Somalia

Somalia's port city of Kismayo remained fairly calm after African Union (AU) troops under the umbrella of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the Somalia National Army and allies walked their way into the city, forcing the al Shabaab to retreat and flee. The Kenyan Contingent of the AMISOM troops has secured the airport, seaport and other strategic areas in the city.

Although the militant group fled their last bastion without putting up a fight, they left improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across the city. At a Government building in the heart of Kismayo, a group of Kenyan combat engineers from the (AMISOM) searched for IEDs.

SOUNDBITE (English), Captain Arthur Ang'iela, AMISOM Combat Engineer Kenyan Contingent Sector 2:
"Our advance between Bibi and Kismayo we have got 17 IEDs of which we have been able to identify them early enough, we have been able to demolish them. Only one of them went off before we could make it safe. But for the others, we demolished all of them with in situ and our troops managed to advance without any causalities from IEDs."

Many in the city fear that although al Shabaab has fled the port city, they might turn to guerrilla style tactics as a way of putting up a fight. This has been the case in the capital, Mogadishu.

SOUNDBITE (English), Captain Arthur Ang'iela, AMISOM Combat Engineer Kenyan Contingent Sector 2:
"IEDs in my opinion pose the greatest challenge to our troops because they are things that are improvised and placed secretly without you knowing and they are placed to harm you when you least expect. So now that we don't have direct confrontation with al Shabaab, I am sure they would use such unorthodox means to fight the Kenya Defence Forces."

Just down the road from the Government building, which was found to be safe, the engineers found a suspicious device. Most IEDs are pressure fused and packed in metal boxes stuffed with explosives. They are considered very effective as one blast can take out a military vehicle and kill up to 40 people, according to AMISOM.

SOUNDBITE (English), Captain Arthur Ang'iela, AMISOM Combat Engineer Kenyan Contingent Sector 2:
"If you heard the bang, it came out with two bangs, which means one was from our donor-charge and the other one was from the IED placed in the hole. Now right now I have a piece of fragment, this is a clear indication that there was an IED place there with some metal to increase the fragmentation. These are some of the pieces of metal that they put to in case the fragmentation on that IED that was placed there."

Along with Somali Government troops, AMISOM has been engaged in an intense offensive against the Al Shabaab, making inroads in some of the areas surrounding the capital.