MOGADISHU — Somalia’s president said Monday that he opposed Kenya’s week-old military assault against southern rebel positions, arguing he wanted only logistical support and training.

Police in Nairobi meanwhile probed a grenade attack that wounded 14 and suspected might be the work of the Shebab insurgents, who had vowed bloody retaliation for Kenya’s controversial decision to send troops across the border.

“Somalia’s government and its people will not allow forces entering its soil without prior agreement,” Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told reporters in Mogadishu.

“There is only one thing we know about the Kenyan forces, and that is their offer of training to the national army of Somalia.”

Kenya’s unprecedented military incursion eight days ago stunned the region as its troops and tanks pushed some 100 kilometres (60 miles) into southern Somalia, areas controlled by the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab.

Sharif’s statement appeared to contradict an agreement signed last week by Kenya and Somalia’s defence ministers to “cooperate in undertaking security and military operations.”

The agreement, inked in Mogadishu, limits Kenyan operations to Somalia’s Lower Juba region.

“We have asked neighbouring countries to train our forces with the aim to participate in the liberation and peacemaking efforts that is going on in the country,” said Sharif.

“But there are small issues we have discussed with Kenya which we see as unfair,” he added, without elaborating.

Sharif’s weak Western-backed government survives in Mogadishu under the protection of over 9,000 African Union troops, who have spent four years battling the Shebab’s military drive to topple his administration.

His government controls only the war-ravaged capital, while the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) troops, from Uganda and Burundi, continue to fight bloody battles on Mogadishu’s outskirts.

“AMISOM is in Somalia with an AU mandate and the consent of Somalia’s government”, Sharif said.

“There is collaboration with Kenya which is to assist Somalia’s national army, so that our forces can fulfill their duties.”

Kenya accuses the Shebab of attacks on its territory and a string of recent kidnappings of foreigners, charges the extremist militants reject.

The Shebab have vowed to launch reprisal raids against Kenya, prompting Nairobi to issue security warnings and announcing it has boosted protection around vulnerable sites.

A grenade was tossed into a downtown Nairobi bar overnight, wounding 14 Kenyans, according to the police.

Investigators suspected Shebab operatives but could fornmally establish the Somali group’s involvement.

“We are dealing with a dangerous group — you know Al Shebab have their sympathizers here, and maybe they are the people we are dealing with,” national police chief Mathew Iteere said.

The US embassy in Nairobi had warned Saturday of attacks possibly targeting foreigners, citing “credible information of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks.”

Kenyan forces in Somalia have been bogged down by heavy rains, slowing down their advance on Shebab positions despite aerial bombing raids, including on the rebel stronghold port of Kismayo.

Kenya’s government spokesman Alfred Mutua declined to comment. Last week President Mwai Kibaki vowed to use “all measures necessary” to defend his nation.

Sharif’s comments perhaps echo worries of some Somalis who oppose the Shebab, but who have expressed concern that Kenya’s attack on the rebels may also include an attempt to carve out a buffer zone of control in the south.

Meanwhile France on Monday said it would provide logistic support to transport Kenyan military equipment by air from Nairobi to an airport near the Somali border.

The last time Somalia was invaded by one of its neighbours was in late 2006 when Ethiopia started an occupation that lasted two years and spurred the formation of the Shebab insurgency.

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