05:16 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nSomali Islamist militants have come under attack by two foreign helicopters near Kismayo, their spokesman says.<\/p>\n
Hassan Yacqub said two patrolling al-Shabab fighters were wounded in the raid on Thursday evening in Qandal on the outskirts of the port city.<\/p>\n
He said the fighters fired back at what were either US or French helicopters.<\/p>\n
Kismayo is a stronghold of the al-Shabab Islamist group, which has links to al-Qaeda, and controls large parts of southern and central Somalia.<\/p>\n
Residents told the BBC that there was a large al-Shabab training camp in the area of Qandal, about 10km (six miles) south of Kismayo.<\/p>\n
They said foreigners were known to be among the recruits.<\/p>\n
Analysts say al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants pose the biggest threat to the weak interim government.<\/p>\n
There have been US air strikes on al-Shabab in the past, and a US special operations team killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of the most senior leaders of al-Qaeda’s East Africa cell, inside Somalia in 2009.<\/p>\n
The US and France both have a military base in neighbouring Djibouti.<\/p>\n
The Somali government, backed by African Union troops, only controls parts of the capital, Mogadishu, about 500km north of Kismayo.<\/p>\n
Somalia has been without an effective central government since the fall of Siad Bare in 1991, as rival factions constantly fight for power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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