Shebab militants storm AU military base in Somalia

Brisbane Times reports that the attack is the biggest assault on an African Union base since a raid on an installation at Janaale in southern Somalia on September 1.

Calls for the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, to withdraw the Kenyan forces from Somalia, have been futile as he believes that the troops are protecting Kenya.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – The bodies of at least four Kenyan soldiers slain by Somali Islamic extremists arrived in the Kenyan capital on Monday.

Kenya has more than 4,000 troops in the 22,000-strong AU force in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle Al-Shabaab, which is part of the Al-Qaida allied terror network.

Al Shabaab attacked an African Union base on Friday killing dozens of soldiers and capturing others who are reportedly being used as human shields.

Four wounded soldiers were airlifted back home on Sunday for specialised treatment. Omamo warned that the operation area remained unsafe, volatile, and fluid, adding that soldiers remained at risk. But al-Shabab said more than 100 Kenyan soldiers were killed, AFP reported. It was not possible to verify that figure.

“Evidently the terrorist group is faced with mounting pressure in their small hideaway pockets which is a result of the well planned military operations carried out by the Somali National Army and the AMISOM (AU Mission in Somalia) troops”, Sharmake said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

Somali and Kenyan military officials said fighters seized the Somali army base near the town of Ceel Cadde, about 550 km (340 miles) west of Mogadishu in a region near Kenya’s border.

The remarks came as Al-Shabaab claimed on Sunday it had killed 100 Kenyan soldiers who were at the military camp in Friday’s dawn attack and also captured some Kenyan soldiers alive.

The group has been slowly pushed out of most of Somalia’s major cities, but continues to launch guerilla attacks within the country.

African Union troops, government officials and foreigners are frequently targeted.

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