Islamic Militant group, Al-shabab on Friday attacked an African Union (AU) Peacekeeping base in Southwester Somalia.
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The Kenyan position was overrun, the Somali source said.
“I express mine and the country’s deepest sympathy to the families and the loved ones of the fallen”, Kenyatta wrote.
The assault started with a suicide auto bomb, and then heavy gunfire was heard as fighters stormed into the base, he said.
“Following the attack this morning on the Somali National Army and the counter-attack by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) against the Al-Shabaab militia in El Adde, initial reports confirm that either side has suffered casualties but the numbers are yet to be confirmed since consolidation is still going on”, Col Obonyo said.
“The mujahedeen fighters carried out a successful operation this morning on a military base at El-Adde, and they have killed numerous Christian soldiers from Kenya”, Musab said.
Al Shabaab has been driven out of major strongholds in Somalia by AMISOM and Somali army offensives launched previous year. The group claims the deadly attacks were in retaliation for the presence of Kenya troops in Somalia.
Francisco Madeira, the special representative of the African Union Commission for Somalia, condemned the attack, saying late Friday the casualties and injuries were still being verified.
Sheikh Abdulaziz Abu Muscab, a spokesman for the Al Shabab, which is affiliated with al-Qaida, said the group had killed 63 Kenyan soldiers at the African Union base near the village of El-Adde and had seized ammunition and military vehicles.
Al Shabaab, a group aligned to al Qaeda, said the base had Kenyan soldiers serving as part of an African Union force battling the Islamist group in Somalia, a country mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991.
Al Shabab, fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed government has launched a string of similar attacks.
The militants also stage frequent suicide attacks in the capital.
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The Shabaab have also staged attacks in Kenya, killing at least 67 people at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall in 2013 and massacring 148 people at a university in Garissa in April 2015.
