Kenya's security forces on Monday destroyed six Al-Shabaab training camps in an ongoing operation to flush out militants from the vast Boni forest in the coastal town of Lamu, Xinxua reported.
Director of Operation Linda Boni Joseph Kanyiri said weapons including AK-47 rifles, bomb-making materials, food and medicine were recovered during the operation in the forest that lies along the border with Somalia.
"We have destroyed six Al-Shabaab camps inside Boni Forest. The temporary camps were used as hideouts for the terrorists to conduct attacks in various parts of Lamu," said Kanyiri.
He said "many" Al-Shabaab militants were killed and others injured during the operation.
"We have killed many Al-Shabaab terrorists and many others fled with gunshot wounds. We are in hot pursuit," he Kanyiri.
Kanyiri urged Al-Shabaab returnees who have secretly slipped back into Kenya to voluntarily avail themselves for rehabilitation so they are not treated as suspects.
A good number of Al-Shabaab militants have been killed by Kenyan security forces since the start of Operation Linda Boni in 2015.
Most of the militants who had infiltrated the forest have abandoned the camps and fled to Somalia, according to military and police sources.
Militants of the 300-man Jeysh Ayman, an Al-Shabaab cell, used the vast Boni forest as an operational base for recruiting and waging terror attacks in the Coast region.
A number of people, including security officers, have been killed in attacks by militants who often use improvised explosive devices (IEDs).