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Kenya warns al-Shabab of bombing by Twitter | Kenya warns al-Shabab of bombing by Twitter |
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Kenya's military spokesman has warned the residents of 10 towns in Somalia via Twitter that they "will be under attack continuously". | Kenya's military spokesman has warned the residents of 10 towns in Somalia via Twitter that they "will be under attack continuously". |
Maj Emmanuel Chirchir, told the BBC bases of the al-Shabab Islamist militia were based outside the towns, and these camps would be their target. | |
Kenya sent troops into Somalia earlier this month as it blames the militant group for a spate of kidnappings. | |
Al-Shabab, which is in control of most of the south, denies the allegations. | Al-Shabab, which is in control of most of the south, denies the allegations. |
"The Kenya Defence Forces urges anyone with relatives and friends in the 10 towns to advise them accordingly," href="http://twitter.com/#!/MajorEChirchir" title="Maj Emmanuel Chirchir's Twitter account" >Maj Chirchir tweeted on his official Twitter account. | |
He listed nine towns in one of his tweets: Baidoa, Bardhere, Dinsor, Afgoye, Buale, Barawe, Jilib, Kismayo and Afmadow. The town of Baidoa was listed twice. | |
Maj Chirchir said it was difficult to fit all the information into the 140 characters allowed in a Twitter message. | |
He told the BBC most al-Shabab bases were on the outskirts of the towns the group controlled. | |
"We're not attacking towns - I want to make that clear - we're attacking al-Shabab camps - all we're saying is that people in Somalia, [should] avoid being close to al-Shabab camps," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. | |
He said the al-Shabab-controlled towns were targets because they were suspected of receiving weapons from an arms consignment carried in two aircraft that landed in Baidoa on Monday. | |
His warning follows a controversy over the aerial bombardment of Jilib on Sunday. | |
Maj Chirchir said a Kenya fighter jet only hit al-Shabab positions in Jilib, killing 10 militia fighters. | |
But the medical charity MSF-Holland said at least five people, including three children, died after a camp for internally displaced people was bombed. |