Resident: Kenya forces take small Somali port town

[October 28, 2011]  MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Residents say that Kenyan troops and a pro-government Somali militia have taken a small port town near the two countries' shared border.

Somalia's militant al-Shabab insurgency used the town of Burgabo for exporting charcoal to the Middle East.

Resident Hassan Mohamed says that he woke up on Friday to find Kenyan and Somali forces conducting house-to-house searches.

Town elder Abdulle Yasin says the forces entered Burgabo from two directions and al-Shabab did not put up resistance. Residents were told to stay calm, cooperate and report any militant activity.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia earlier this month amid as insecurity caused by Somalia's 20-year-old civil war spilled over into Kenya.

[Associated Press]

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