Al-Shabab, fighting as part of the Islamic Courts Union, was driven out of Kismayo in January 2007 after Ethiopian forces rolled into Somalia to back the interim government in the fight to take control of much of central and southern Somalia.[1] According to Interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, Kismayo was subsequently not under the Ethiopian-backed transitional government's control, and there were no Ethiopian forces in the area at the time of the battle; clan militias in Kismayo claimed to be part of the government, however.[4] In the months prior to the battle, Kismayo was considered peaceful in comparison to Mogadishu, the capital.[5]