Somalia’s militant al Shabaab group said on Friday its fighters have seized a remote military base from Kenyan soldiers serving in an African Union force after an early morning attack in Somalia.
The group, which once ruled much of Somalia, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out the peacekeepers made up of soldiers from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Ethiopia and other African nations.
“Two mujahideen rammed suicide car bombs into the base in Kulbiyow town before storming it. After hand-to-hand fighting, we have taken over the base,” said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman.
Meanwhile the al Shabaab has said its fighters killed dozens of Kenyan troops when they attacked the military base.
In January 2016, al Shabaab said it had killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers in El Adde, a Somali camp near the border with Kenya. The Kenyan military never gave details of casualties, but Kenya media reports suggested a toll of that magnitude.
Source: Reuters
