The Kenyan government has denied reports that it was training Somali youths in areas inhabited by ethnic Somalis to fight an insurgency in the Horn of Africa nation.

Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang'ula dismissed media reports that some government officials were recruiting and training hundreds of Somali youths to help the transitional government of Somalia fight the Al Shabaab militia in the lawless nation.

"It has never been the job of our government to train mercenaries to fight in neighbouring countries. It does not serve our national interests," Wetang'ula told journalists late on Monday.

Somali Islamists, who have been engaging Somalia's transitional government in almost daily attacks, have accused Nairobi of recruiting ethnic Somalis who live in Kenya to fight against them.

The Islamists have warned that they would do all they could to stop the East African nation, which supports Somalia's weak UN-backed government, from carrying out the training.

Wetang'ula said Kenya has signed agreements with the transitional government to help them train police officers and immigration officials.

Kenya hosted the Somalia reconciliation conference which culminated in the formation of the unity government.

Al-Shabaab militia have claimed that they have received reliable information that Kenya was stepping up its recruiting of ethnic Somalis to bolster efforts by the fragile government of Somalia to stamp its authority on Somali soil.

Daud Mohamed Garane, chairman of Al-Shabaab in Gedo region in southern Somalia, was quoted as warning that they are capable of carrying out a major onslaught on Kenyan major towns.

"We have reliable sources that the Kenyan government is providing military training to young Somalis in North-eastern Kenya, and if the Kenyan government does not immediately stop this action, we shall raid them. Let them prepare themselves for war instead of peace," Garane warned.

Somalia has been without effective central government for nearly two decades.