Jubaland forces capture Ras Kamboni town

Jubaland forces capture Ras Kamboni town

 Forces from the southern Somali state of Jubaland on Wednesday captured the town of Ras Kamboni in the state's Lower Juba region after fierce fighting against Somali government forces that were recently deployed in the town.

Some Somali soldiers fled to Kenya and surrendered to Kenyan forces. A statement published on the website of the Kenyan counter-terrorism forces confirmed that the Somali forces withdrawing from Ras Kamboni had handed over weapons and requested asylum, while Jubaland indicated that dozens of Somali government soldiers had surrendered to its forces.

The Somali government recently airlifted hundreds of soldiers to the town of Ras Kamboni to take over security duties from the withdrawing African forces, it said, but Jubaland state, whose relations with Mogadishu have become strained, considered those forces to be invaders, and in the first confrontation between the two sides, it was able to seize that town near the Kenyan border.