Kenyan troops attacked the Somali port city of Kismayu from three sides today in an assault to drive the al Shabaab militant group from its last bastion.
Fighting was taking place on the city's beaches after an amphibious assault, the military and resident said.
The loss of the southern port would deal a huge blow to the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab as it is a lucrative source of revenue and a centre for operations over areas it has dominated in south-central Somalia since 2007.
The group, which formally merged with al-Qaeda in February, has been steadily losing its footholds under sustained pressure from African peacekeeping forces (AMISOM) and Somali government troops for the past year.
While Kismayu's recapture would go a long way towards stabilising Somalia, which has lacked effective central government for the past 20 years, it may well embolden the militants to resort to more guerrilla-style attacks.
Kenyan military spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna said Kenyan soldiers and Somali government troops had advanced on Kismayu from the north, south and from the sea in an amphibious assault.
"We came from the beach side and we're moving towards the main city. Our surveillance aircraft are monitoring every event taking place on the ground," he told Reuters. "For now, we're not everywhere. We've taken a large part of it without resistance, I don't see anything major happening" he said.
In Kismayu, residents said they could hear fighting near the beach, about 4km outside the city, as military helicopters hovered overhead.
"Now we hear shelling from the ships and the (rebels) are responding with anti-aircraft guns," one said. "We saw seven ships early in the morning and now their firing looks like lightning and thunder. Al Shabaab have gone towards the beach. The ships poured many AU troops on the beach," he said.
Al Shabaab, which was driven out of the capital Mogadishu last August and is fighting African Union forces in other parts of the country, said it would not give up Kismayu easily.
"Going into Kismayu is not a piece of cake. We are still fighting them on the beach where they landed," al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, said.
Kenya sent its troops into Somalia last October after the rebels were blamed for a series of raids on Kenyan soil targeting its security forces as well as Western tourists.
The UN refugee agency said 12,000 people had fled Kismayu since the beginning of September after Kenyan forces began targeting al Shabaab's positions in the city.
Reuters