The African Union Mission in Somalia has deployed about 22,000 peacekeepers to help Somali government forces stabilize the country, which hasn’t had a functioning central administration since civil war erupted a quarter of a century ago.
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In September 2015, Shabaab fighters stormed a Ugandan AMISOM base in Janale district, 80km southwest of Mogadishu in the Lower Shabelle region.
Despite being pushed out of Somalia’s major cities and towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country.
“We have now counted and gathered in the base 61 dead bodies of (Kenyan) soldiers”, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
Somali army colonel Idris Ahmed said a Shebab suicide commando blasted into the El-Adde base in the Gedo region, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia, in a pre-dawn attack.
“(Kenyan) troops under (African Union auspices) counter-attacked…
According to reports by BBC, Al-Shabab militants have overrun an African Union military base outside the southern Somali town of el-Ade.
Kenya will not be “cowed by cowards”, the President has said in his condolence message to the families of soldiers killed in an attack in Somalia on Friday.
“Our fighters went in and after a heavy exchange of gunfire we took over the base”, Musab said, and residents have reported sporadic gunfire inside the military compound.
He said that Al-Shabaab claims of large-scale casualties among AMISOM troops were “total propaganda”.
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Islamic Militant group, Al-shabab on Friday attacked an African Union (AU) Peacekeeping base in Southwester Somalia.
The Shabaab, fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed and AU-protected government, has launched a string of similar attacks. “There were many casualties between the two parties”, he added. “The other Kenyan troops have run away into the bush and we are hunting them down”.
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He gave no casualty figure but an al-Shabab spokesman said at least 63 soldiers died. The bodies of the deceased soldiers were reportedly being displayed and burned in the town.
