[13] According to AMISOM official Colonel Cyrus Oguna, the Somali National Army and Kenyan AU naval, air and ground forces launched a surprise attack on Kismayo, capturing the city with little resistance mounted by Al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab's military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab stated that "fierce fighting" was underway between his comrades and the Kenyan forces.

[14][15] Al-Shabaab also claimed to have destroyed two Kenyan armoured personnel carriers with an improvised explosive device (IED) and another one with a rocket-propelled grenade during the fighting, and denied that it had lost control over the city.

KDF spokesperson Colonel Oguna indicated that the AMISOM forces would first consolidate their position before moving into areas of the city on 5 October that were vacated by the militants.

[1] According to an eyewitness, Somali government soldiers in armoured vehicles entered Kismayo's center on 1 October 2012, three days after allied forces had laid siege to the city's perimeter.

The Somali Ministry of Defence and SNA commanders concurrently alerted the coalition forces of the possibility of further attacks and advised them to enter the city with caution, as the insurgents may have planted bombs in the bases that they had vacated.

[19] Kismayo was regarded as Al-Shabaab's last major stronghold on account of the revenue that the group has been able to generate for itself through exporting charcoal and levying port taxes on imported goods.

[14][15] According to Al-Jazeera, the offensive represented a major, morale-dampening loss for the rebel group, as the militants were reportedly left with few areas from which to safely launch attacks on "soft-targets".