New Somali raid after hostage dies

Kenya is poised to launch an assault on Kismayo, the Somali port city stronghold of the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab, in a major escalation of its involvement in Somalia's protracted civil war.

Kenyan forces who crossed into Somalia on Monday aim to cut off the main commercial base for the Muslim movement it blames for a spate of kidnappings inside Kenya.

The move came as French authorities announced the presumed death of Marie Dedieu, a wheelchair-bound woman suffering from cancer and heart problems, who was abducted from a Kenyan holiday island by Somali gunmen last month.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said sources negotiating for the 66-year old's release were informed of her death yesterday.

"Seizing a woman in this state is an act of barbarity and absolutely unspeakable violence," he added.

She required special medication several times a day. French officials said Dedieu's state of health and the fact that her kidnappers "probably refused to give her the medication we sent her" likely led to the death. The Foreign Ministry said her death had not been confirmed but was the most likely situation.

Kenya's military campaign against al-Shabaab, which is backed privately by Somalia's UN-recognised transitional government, has raised fears for the fates of three other foreign hostages taken in the past two months.

Security sources in Nairobi said two Spanish women working for the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres had been seen in Somali villages 240km from the border with Kenya.

But MSF officials said they had no verifiable information about the whereabouts of the two logistics workers who were kidnapped while working at the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya.

Jose Antonio Bastos, head of MSF Spain, said: "We want to strongly distance ourselves from any military or other armed activities, declarations or presumptions of responsibility related to this case."

The British hostage Judith Tebbutt, who was abducted in a September attack in which her husband was murdered, is believed to be being held further north in Somalia.

Kenya's advance into Somalia has taken its troops to the outskirts of Afmadow, 160km from the border. "We killed 73 rebels during our artillery bombardment and so far the military has secured three towns," said a spokesman.

Torrential rain has churned the semi-desert of Somalia's southern Jubaland province into mud, slowing tanks and trucks from Kenya. Nonetheless, military analysts expected Kismayo to fall in the next week.

- INDEPENDENT, AP