Al-Shabaab Rebels Pull Out of Key Somali Town

September 29, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

Rebel al-Shabaab fighters have pulled out of the southern port city of Kismayo, their last stronghold in Somalia, after a military assault by Kenyan and Somali troops, the rebels have said. "The military command of al-Shabab mujahedeen ordered a tactical retreat at midnight," Ali Mohamud Rage, a spokesman for the rebel group, said on Saturday. Rage said, however, that the group would continue to fight for control of the town. Al Jazeera's Peter Greste reports.

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Kismayo

Kismayo is a port city in the Jubbada Hoose province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The town is situated 328 miles southwest of Mogadishu, near the mouth of the Jubba River, where the waters empty into the Indian Ocean. As of 2011, ... Explore this topic

Al-Shabaab

Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, more commonly known as al-Shabaab, is the Somalia-based cell of the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda, formally recognized in 2012. As of 2012, the outfit controls large swathes of the southern parts of the country, where it is said to have imp... Explore this topic

Somalia

Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has a population... Explore this topic

Withdrawal

A withdrawal is a type of military operation, generally meaning retreating forces back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, or to lead the en... Explore this topic

Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a sovereign state in East Africa. The capital and largest city is Nairobi. Kenya lies on the equator with the Indian Ocean to the south-east, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the n... Explore this topic

Politics of Somalia

The politics of Somalia are defined by the state of civil war which, since 1991, has divided the country. What started out as various warring entities and autonomist and secessionist regions fighting for control developed into a fragile government fighting an Islamic insurgenc... Explore this topic

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land. Port locations are selected to optimize access to land and navigable water, for commercial demand, and for shelter from wind and waves. Po... Explore this topic

Military of Somalia

The Military of Somalia was initially made up of the army, navy, air force, and air defense command. In the post-independence period, the national armed forces grew to become among the larger militaries on the continent. The subsequent outbreak of the civil war in 1991 led to ... Explore this topic

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaida ist ein loses, weltweit operierendes Terrornetzwerk meist sunnitischer dschihadistischer Organisationen, das seit 1993 zahlreiche Terroranschläge in mehreren Staaten verübt hat, und mit zahlreichen weltpolitischen Ereignissen im Zusammenhang steht. Viele der von dem N... Explore this topic

Offensive (military)

An offensive is a military operation that seeks through aggressive projection of armed force to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational or tactical goal. Another term for an offensive often used by the media is 'invasion', or the more ... Explore this topic

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Kismayo

Al-Shabaab

Somalia

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