20111025
Press TV
US assassination drones have targeted an area controlled by the al-Shabab group and killed at least 36 Somali people, Press TV reports.

The attack took place in the Somali island of Kudhaa near the country's border with Kenya on Monday, Somali army officer Colonel Aden Dheere told Press TV.

The attack came shortly after France joined the Kenyan military operations against local al-Shabab fighters in Somalia.

At least 59 people have been killed and dozens more wounded during French military attacks on Kudhaa on the same day.

On Sunday, Kenyan army spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said the French navy also targeted the town of Kuday near the southern al-Shabab stronghold of Kismayo on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Kenyan troops have advanced about 100 kilometers (60 miles) into the country's southern areas and are bracing for another round of attacks on the strategic city of Afmadow, largely controlled by al-Shabab.

The main target of the joint Somali-Kenyan offensive is to flush out the fighters from the port city of Kismayo -- al-Shabab's economic headquarters, located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of Afmadow.

The Kenyan military intervention followed Nairobi's accusation that al-Shabab had kidnapped four European women, including two Spanish humanitarian aid workers, in Kenya over the past weeks.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.