The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISON) confirmed the attack via its Twitter account, stating it would provide an update to the situation “with factual details”, in an apparent criticism of al-Shabab’s account of the raid.
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The Kenyan military denied the death toll, saying it was pure “propaganda”.
Heavily armed fighters from the al-Shabab group launch coordinated assault on the base in the town of El-Ade. Another terror attack at a college in northeastern Kenya in April left almost 150 dead.
“For al-Shabaab the control of strategic assets has ceased to be an option since Kenyan forces joined the Amisom effort”, he said.
Earlier, Al Jazeera reported that at least 50 Kenyan soldiers were killed early on Friday in the attack.
The Somali militant group, Al-Shabaab, which is considered a terrorist organization by the USA, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu Musab claimed to have killed 63 Kenyan troops in the pre-dawn attack, but this could not be immediately verified. “We have counted 63 dead bodies inside the base”.
Ahmed Hassan, speaking from the nearby town of Elwak, said the attack started with a suicide auto bomb, and then heavy gunfire as militants stormed into the base.
Kenyan forces form part of the Amisom contingent, along with troops from Ethiopia, Burundi, Uganda and Djibouti.
Obonyohe said the operation remained going, including at the Kenyan camp in Wargadud.
Residents in Ceel Cedo wrote on social media platforms Friday that they could hear sporadic gunfire in the area.
Col David Obonyo, Kenyan military spokesman, debunked shabab reports that the AU base had been attacked.
In September 2015, Shebab fighters stormed a Ugandan AMISOM base in Janale district, 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of Mogadishu in the Lower Shabelle region.
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“Once we come to an end of this battle, we will have information on number of casualties and proper account of what happened”.
