The pre-dawn attack on the Kenyan base in Somalia’s Gedo region, bordering Kenya and Ethiopia, was at least the third major assault on isolated AU bases in the a year ago.
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“It should be noted that this is a delicate operation as we have information to the effect that some soldiers are being used as human shields and we will not allow any further casualties”, he said. Al-Shabab often exaggerates the number of soldiers it kills while the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Kenyan government officials often downplay the tolls, AFP reported.
Kenyan Defence Secretary Raychelle Omamo told reporters that there is an ongoing search, rescue and recovery operation in the area where the attack happened.
In the attack on Janaale, the group claimed to have killed 80 African Union soldiers.
Al-Shabaab has however, vowed reprisal attacks, mainly targeting security forces in border towns of northern Kenya where dozens of people have been killed in landmine and grenade attacks.
The incident began at 4 a.m. when a suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into the gate of the militant camp.
Earlier, Al Shabaab said that it had captured some KDF soldiers during the attack on Friday.
An injured Kenya Defence Force soldier is stretched into an ambulance to be transfered to the hospital after arriving in Nairobi, on January 17, 2016, a day after an attack by the Al-Qaeda-linked militants on an African Union base (AMISOM) in southwest Somalia.
While denying allegations that some of the soldiers had been captured during the attack, the military chief also disclosed that the enemy had been severely degraded through a combination of both “land and air assets in the last 72 hours”.
Omamo said the government has established support facilities for the families of the fallen soldiers and those who were injured at the KDF barracks in Eldoret, Gilgil and Nairobi.
Details have now emerged on how Al Shabaab militants orchestrated the 5:30 AM attack on two camps in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) base camp at El Adde in Somalia on Friday.
“We will fight them deep in their hideouts, smoke them out of the caves, follow them to the end in honour of every drop of blood of fellow Kenyans”, said he. “I urge all Kenyans to continue praying for KDF and the bereaved families of those who lost their lives in the recent attack”, he said.
Al-Shabaab said that the latest attack comes as response to Kenyan occupation of parts of Somalia and its military persecution of innocent Muslims in Kenya.
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President Kenyatta condemned the attack and said they will not turn back on war on Al shabaab despite massive pressure from the public on social media and the opposition parties.
