Mogadishu, Somalia, December 10, 2011 – Fighter jets bombed the southern Somali town of Baardheere Thursday, killing at least one civilian, local residents and the al Shabaab rebel group said.

Some locals believed the warplanes came from neighboring Kenya, which is eight weeks into an offensive inside Somalia aimed at crushing rebel networks and has carried out numerous air strikes.

"Two fighter jets bombed the ADC stores in a suburb of the town," resident Ali Mohamud Ali told Reuters by telephone. "Al Shabaab were using these stores as a military base for the last three years."

Kenya's military spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Ali said the store was located near a busy khat market. Khat is a natural stimulant chewed by a large number of Somali men.

Another resident reported seeing large craters left by the explosions.

Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesman for al Shabaab fighters, said the aircraft dropped two bombs. There were no rebel combatants at the site at the time, he said.

(Reporting by Mohamed Ahmed and Feisal Omar, additional reporting by Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; Writing by Richard Lough, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source: Reuters

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