Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Mohamud Ali Raageh says Alshabab fighters will not surrender to the Kenyan led allied forces those heading to Kismayo, the spokesman for the group of Alshabab strongly oposed the rumors that the Alshabab Jihadists are fleeing from the ports town of Kismayo.

Fighters from Somalia’s Islamist extremist rebels have started to leave their remaining coastal stronghold, Kismayo, in the face of advancing allied African troops, residents and a military official said Tuesday. Armed militants from the Shabab, a group allied with Al Qaeda, left Kismayo in pickup trucks after freeing prisoners in the town, Muse Hassan, a Kismayo resident, said by phone. Col. Cyrus Oguna,

a spokesman for the Kenyan Army, which is part of the African Union forces fighting Shabab militants, said the fighters were fleeing because they sensed defeat. However, a Shabab spokesman said on Twitter that the reports were “blatant lies.”