Nairobi (ANTARA News/AFP) - African Union forces entered the southern Somali town of Afmadow, one of the few remaining bases held by Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents, an army spokesman said Wednesday.

Afmadow has been a long-term target ever since Kenyan troops invaded southern Somalia in October, before later joining the African Union force.

"Afmadow is falling, there is still fighting but by daybreak it will be ours," said Kenyan army spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna.

Shebab fighters in Afmadow, which lies some 120 kilometres (75 miles) into Somalia from the Kenyan border, had held back Kenyan troops for months, blocking the advance towards the key Shebab-held port of Kismayo.

In October Kenya`s army claimed to be on the point of taking Afmadow, but bogged down by rains and heavy resistance, the troops had since remained stalled outside the town. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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