Al Shabaab militants attack Somali army base, say dozens dead

Al-Shabab militants have overrun an African Union military base in Somalia.

Heavily armed militants from the Al-Shabaab extremist Islamist group launched an attack on a military base run by Kenyan troops, a contributing military force of the African Union, the Associated Press reports.

Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) spokesman Col. David Obonyo told Anadolu Agency that Kenyan jets were responding to the attack with airstrikes, claiming that at least 100 militants had been killed so far.

The explosion was followed by heavy gunfire exchanges as Shabab fighters trooped into the base. However, he did not confirm or deny that several Kenyan soldiers were also killed in the attack.

The Kenyan military denied the death toll, saying it was pure “propaganda”.

Residents said al-Shabab has raised its flag at a camp for Kenyan troops and the insurgents have paraded bodies through the town.

“AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) has gone out of the town and base for strategic reasons”, he told Reuters news agency from his post around 100 kilometres from the compound.

It was a base for Kenyan military forces, there were a few Somali soldiers with Kenyans and escaped.

The group, which said it would “expel” the invaders, said in a statement that more than 63 Kenyans soldiers were killed. John Stupart, managing director of the African Defence Review, said the struggle to maintain a state of readiness amid rolling deployments at Amisom bases made them ideal targets for al-Shabaab. The attack took place at El-Ade, Gedo in southern Somalia which is in close proximity to KDF camp.

The group, which has ties with al-Qaida, has also carried out many deadly attacks inside Kenya. The claims have not yet been independently verified.

The al-Shabaab, fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed and AU-protected government, has launched a string of similar attacks.

In June, Shabaab fighters killed dozens of Burundian soldiers when they overran an AMISOM outpost northwest of Mogadishu.

In April 2015, the militant group staged an attack on a university in Garissa, killing 148 people.