Reuters news agency reports that columns of al-Shabab battle-wagons mounted with heavy machine guns have rushed to reinforce Afmadow, which is about 90km north of the port city of Kismayo, al-Shabab's main economic power base.
"It's not a revival of the Passion Play - it's inspired by the Passion Play - we are going to use the whole of Port Talbot as our performance base and get as many people involved as we can, " he added.