Somalia’s Shebab kill three soldiers in bomb attack

The bomb, homemade, ripped through a military checkpoint in the southern port town of Kismayo on Thursday.

Al Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda linked group battling to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack.

A military offensive previous year by the African AMISOM force and the Somali army pushed al Shabaab out of major strategic centres and into smaller pockets of territory.

However, both AMISOM and Somali forces termed the move a tactical retreat and vowed to retake the town later.

The government has dismissed the gains by al Shabaab, saying the areas retaken are not of strategic value. “It lost everything that can give it strength”, said the president.

In early September, at least 50 African Union soldiers were killed in an incident where al-Shabab militants stormed a military camp manned by soldiers from Uganda in the town of Janale, located in the region of Lower Shabelle in southern Somalia.

Osman Abdullahi, a military officer, told Reuters seven soldiers were killed and five others wounded.

Residents told Xinhua that after the blast at the military camp more troops were deployed to the place.

A powerful roadside bomb explosion has killed at least three Somali soldiers in the south of the African country.

Al Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow the Western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islamic law, has remained a potent threat in Somalia even after being forced out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011.

A auto bomb at a university that was being used as a base for government troops in the same city killed 16 soldiers late last month.