Somali president: Attack killed nearly 200 Kenyan soldiers

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says as many as 200 Kenyan soldiers had been killed when the Takfiri al-Shabab militants attacked an African Union base in the country last month. The interview was posted on YouTube on Thursday.

Al-Shabaab at the time of the attack had put the death toll at 100, and while Kenya has not given a death toll.

But Kenya Defence Forces spokesman, Colonel David Obonyo, denied the number given by the Somali president and questioned the source of the information.

Mr Mohamud’s figure is similar to that a community leader in el-Ade gave to the BBC Somali service after the attack on 15 January. Kenya has not disclosed any information on casualties.

If the lower al-Shabaab death toll is accurate, the attack would still count as one of the most devastating Islamist attacks on AU troops in Somalia.

The Daily Maverick analyses al-Shabaab’s recent tactics.

Kenya sent soldiers into Somalia in 2011 after raids in the border region and kidnappings that threatened the tourism industry in the region’s biggest economy and wider regional destabilisation.

Matthias Schrader/AP Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said at least 180 Kenyan soldiers were killed in Somalia in an extremist attack on their base in January by Al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the midday attack and confirmed it was aimed at the palace.

Kenyan forces form part of the the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) contingent, along with troops from Ethiopia, Burundi, Uganda and Djibouti.

Reuters witnesses described a blood-spattered scene about 300 metres from the house of parliament. The hilltop government district is regularly targeted by the Shebab, Somalia’s al-Qaeda aligned militants fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government.