Al-Shabab Attacks African Union Base In Somalia

Officials say dozen of Al-Shabaab fights started a complex attack on a military base run by Kenyan troops who are part of the African Union near the Kenyan border.

“Today, Jan. 15, 2016, at 4 a.m. [Friday] Al-Shabaab militia attacked the Somali National Army [SNA] camp, which is in close proximity to the Kenya Defense Forces [KDF] camp in Elade Somalia”, Obonyo said.

Those living in the town told the BBC that the bodies of dead soldiers had been paraded through the streets by triumphant al-Shabaab militants.

Kenya’s defence ministry confirmed there had been “casualties” but was unable to confirm numbers, describing the assault as an “unfortunate incident“.

AMISOM has some 22,000 troops stationed in Somalia, where it has made significant gains against al-Shebab by driving them out of several strongholds in the country’s southwestern regions.

“We counted 63 Kenyan bodies inside the base”.

The group has increasingly targeted Kenya, which intervened in Somalia in 2011 in support of the government and the African Union peacekeeping mission.

Al-Shabab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu Mudan said on the group’s online radio that at least 63 soldiers have been killed in the attack.

Although Al-Shabaab officially remains loyal to Al-Qaeda, around 200 of its fighters pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in December, causing tensions within Al-Shabaab.

Fighting is still going on inside the base, he said.

The Security Council further stressed the need to take measures to prevent and suppress the financing of Al Shabaab, and any other terrorist group in Somalia.

The battle lasted for about three hours as Kenya Defence Forces troops tried to repel the attack, before the base was overrun, Mohamed Isaq, a resident of El-Adde, said by phone from the town.

The attack Friday follows two in 2015 in which dozens of soldiers from Burundi and Uganda were killed.

“AMISOM has gone out of the town and base for strategic reasons”, Somali Colonel Farah Surow, who is based about 100 km (60 miles) from the Ceel Cadde base, told Reuters.

The group was blamed for an attack on Garissa University in April previous year, which killed 148 students.