Kenyan airstrikes kill 39 in Somalia

At least 39 people have been killed and 81 other were injured after Kenyan fighter jets carried out several airstrikes on al-Shabab positions and bases in southern Somalia, Press TV reported. Kenya's Military Spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said that Kenyan air force jets struck two al-Shabab training camps in Somalia's southwestern district of Badade on Monday. Sources close to al-Shabab militant group told Press TV that 39 people were killed and 81 others were injured in the aerial strikes. Hundreds of families have been fleeing towns in southern Somalia in the wake of Kenyan military's aerial strikes on al-Shabab militants' strongholds. Residents in Kismayo, a strategically-important port city located some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, as well as in Buale, Jilib, and Afmadow towns have been leaving their homes over the past weeks for fear of their lives, according to Xinhua news agency. Last month, Kenya dispatched soldiers over its border into Somalia to pursue al-Shabaab militants, which it accuses of being behind the kidnapping of several foreigners on its territory. Al-Shabaab has denied involvement. Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has said his UN-backed transitional government was opposed to the military incursion, which is reportedly being contributed to by the US and France. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.