Al-Shabaab fighters abandoned their positions inside Kismayo on Saturday (September 29th), a day after Somali and allied forces undertook a large-scale attack of the strategic port city.
On Saturday, al-Shabaab posted on its Twitter account that it had ceased administrative services in the city. "Last night, after more than 5 years the Islamic administration in Kismayo closed its offices," the group posted.
Residents also reported that al-Shabaab-run radio station Radio Andalus has fallen silent and that fighters had left the town, AFP reported.
The Somali government has said it currently controls the city, while the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) maintains that its forces are still working to fill the vacuum left by al-Shabaab's desertion.
"The Somali armed forces, with backing from AMISOM, managed to secure the city of Kismayo and tear it away from the grip of the terrorist al-Shabaab group," said a statement from Somalia's Ministry of Information.
Colonel Hussein Abdullahi, a Somali army commander in the Lower Jubba region, said allied forces met little resistance. "Al-Shabaab fighters abandoned their positions in Kismayo on Saturday night because they knew they could not confront the offensive from the allied forces," he told Sabahi.
Allied forces are based on the outskirts of the city, prepared to restore order to areas formerly under al-Shabaab control. "We are still based on the periphery of the city but are planning to enter it within the next few hours," Abdullahi said.
According to Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna, two top al-Shabaab leaders, Sheikhs Hassan Yakub and Abdikarim Adow, were killed during airstrikes on the group's command centre in the city.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage described the militant group's withdrawal as "tactical".
"The al-Shabaab military leadership has given our fighters orders for a tactical withdrawal from the city at exactly midnight," Rage told AFP. "This withdrawal is part of the military tactics we have set for the enemy."
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud praised the Somali armed forces and AMISOM for their efforts and sacrifices in rooting out the terrorists.
"The liberation of Kismayo marks an important milestone for the people of Somalia, particularly the residents of Kismayo who have endured hardship and difficulty under the brutal reign of al-Shabaab," he said in a statement.
"We call on the international community as well as humanitarian agencies to provide assistance to vulnerable communities in the region who have suffered under the rule of al-Shabaab as the group restricted the delivery of aid to all parts of the Jubba regions."
Eyewitnesses and local residents confirmed acts of looting in locations vacated by the militants.
"In the early morning, young people looted the sites vacated by the militants and they started celebrating the departure of the rebels," Ibrahim Dahir, a 38-year old resident of Kismayo, told Sabahi.
Nasteho Abdi, 31, said, "Residents of Kismayo are looking forward to a huge change. We were leading wretched lives because of the cruel lifestyle imposed upon us by the extremists. They would resort to flogging, amputating limbs, stoning to death and forcing merchants, farmers and shepherds to pay high taxes."
"We were not allowed to listen to music or watch TV while the radicals were in control of the city," she told Sabahi. "Now, after they have left, we can look forward to a better future."

Militants hide in the jungles of Jubba regions

Colonel Ahmed Nur Osman, a former officer in the national Somalia army, warned that militants who withdrew from Kismayo have headed towards the jungle and villages north of the city, such as Jilib, Jamaame and Kabsuma.
"Similar to what the Islamic Courts did when they were defeated by the Ethiopian troops at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 and took shelter in the country's southern forests, the al-Shabaab militants are preparing for a similar situation," he told Sabahi. "They will hide in the jungles and the allied forces should not allow the terrorists to turn the jungles of Jubbas into a safe haven".
"Somali armed forces and their allies should not end the military campaign until terrorist elements allied with al-Qaeda are crushed once and for all," he said. "Wherever they go, the armed forces have to be hot on their heels as they hunt down the last remnants of the terrorist al-Shabaab movement."

Beginning of the end for al-Shabaab

The fall of Kismayo is a "blow that will bring down the movement's morale and deprive it of the substantive revenues that it had access to", according to Mohamed Moalim Said, a Mogadishu-based political analyst.
The fall of Kismayo is the beginning of the end for al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab, he said. "This development will change the face of the armed conflict in Somalia, which coincides with the changing of the political conflict that was born out of the new parliament, the new president of the country and the new government that is expected to be formed within the next couple of days after a new prime minister is appointed," he told Sabahi.
"Al-Shabaab has already lost four regional capitals -- Beledweyne, Baidoa, Hudur and Marka -- but Kismayo is significantly important compared with those cities because al-Shabaab used the seaport in Kismayo to bring in weapons and ammunition and ship illegitimate charcoal exports," he said.
Al-Shabaab has also suffered recently from mass defections. On September 22nd, over 200 al-Shabaab fighters turned themselves in, and two days later, Hizbul Islam announced its decision to break away from the militant group.

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