Kismayo (Smn) — The planning minister of Jubaland state Abdirahman Abdi Ahmed accompanied by the acting petroleum minister Mohamed Dekow Hussein paid a visit to the regional forces at frontlines against Al-Shabaab.

According to the reports the team toured the military bases in Jana Abdalla and other areas within the Lower Juba region on Monday to inspect the anti-Al-Shabaab war preparations.

Their visit comes weeks after Al-Shabaab fighters attacked the army base in Jana Abdalla, where dozens of SNA and Jubaand soldiers were killed and many more others wounded.

Somalia has faced near-continuous conflict for almost 30 years, while the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu has been fighting al-Shabab since 2008.

The officials leading the troops in the fight against Al-Shabaab say they received supplies from the ministers whose visit was to boost the morale of the soldiers in the frontline areas.

As part of the second phase of the offensive, the federal government plans to expand the military offensive to Jubaland and Southwest states in southern Somalia after gaining key areas in central parts of the country.

During the first phase of the offensive against al-Shabaab, Somali security forces regained control of over 215 locations previously under al-Shabaab's control, mostly in Hirshabelle and Galmudug states.

However, Somali security forces, who failed to fully drive out al-Shabaab militants from the Federal states, except Puntland, still lack the military capacity to hold newly liberated areas. SNA retreated from Elbur and other main areas, in what the government termed a war strategy.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group Al-Shabaab, in turn, took advantage of this weakness to maintain bases and launch complex attacks against government troops. In particular, they regained lost territories in Hirshabelle as the government expanded the offensive to Galmudug state.