Kenyan troops near al-Shabaab town in Somalia

Kenyan troops in Somalia closed in on the rebel-held town of Afmadow Saturday where they may fight their first ground battle against al-Qaeda-linked militants since launching an offensive last weekend, a military spokesman said.

Hundreds of residents were fleeing Afmadow in anticipation of fighting as Kenyan and Somali troops moved closer.

Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said Kenya's army was flanking Somali troops and pro-government militia. Afmadow is now controlled by al-Shabaab, Somalia's most dangerous militant group waging a war against the country's weak UN-backed government.

"We believe this movement will create the first ground offensive," Chirchir said.

Kenya had been bombing militants from the air but the charge at Afmedow will be first "man-to-man fighting situation," he said.

Al-Shabaab militants are regrouping in the town of Bula Haji to reinforce their fighters in Afmadow, Chirchir said.

Osman Ahmed, a resident in Afmadow, said there is a lot of tension with militants preparing to do battle with Kenyan and Somali government troops.

"We sleep and wake up with fears, only gunmen and sporadic civilians are crossing the streets. It's a frightening situation," he said.

Terrorist attack in Kenya possible

Kenya last weekendsent its troops into Somalia to pursue al-Shabaabmilitants blamed for a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil.

Somali gunmen have kidnapped four Europeans in the last six weekstwo from the Lamu coastal region and two from the Dadaab refugee camp. One of the hostages, a quadriplegic French woman,died on Wednesday.

Kenya's government says the kidnappings threaten the country's tourism industrya key driver of the economythat had bounced back after near collapse following postelection violence three-years-ago in which more than 1,000 people died.

Also Saturday the U.S. Embassy warned that an imminent terrorist attack in Kenya is possible. It said likely targets include places that foreigners congregate, including shopping malls and night clubs.

In response to the Kenyan military incursion, al-Shabaab on Mondaythreatened to carry out suicide attacksin Kenya similar to those in July that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final in Uganda. Al-Shabaab said that attack was a response to Uganda sending troops to support Somalia's government.

AU, al-Shabaab troops clashed last week

Somalia has been a failed state for more than 20 years. The lawless country is a haven for pirates and international terrorists and the conflict is causing a major famine which is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives already.

Chirchir said the overall strategy of Kenya's military incursion is to reduce al-Shabaab's effectiveness and restore authority to Somalia's government in order to achieve enduring peace.

African Union troops and government soldiers pushed the al-Shabaab militia from their last bases in the capital on Thursday, AU spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said.

Al-Shabaab has retreated before the Kenyan forces so far, but the militants have struck back in the Somali capital with a series of bombingsincluding a truck bomb that killed over 100 people. On Thursday, they put up a bloody fight when AU forces arrived in Deynile, al-Shabaab's last base in Mogadishu.

Otherwise, the Kenyan army has so far met little or no resistance during their push into the rebel-controlled areas of Somalia, as it marches toward its ultimate target; the al-Shabaab stronghold of Kismayo.