Kenya Searches for Missing Soldiers After Al-Shabab Attack in Somalia

A Kenyan army unit reportedly decimated in an attack by al-Shabab militants last Friday had received warning of the assault, according to a Somali general. “Our troops are engaging the terrorists”. On Sunday four injured soldiers were returned to Nairobi.

“This is a very somber moment for the Kenya Defense Forces and I think for the country at large”, Kenyan Defense Secretary Raychelle Omamo told reporters at the airport.

“Allow the families privacy as they mourn”.

“These attacks show AU troops are not forging relationship with locals”, he said.

“We are determined to bring our soldiers home”.

A Kenyan soldier, who Kenya Defence Forces said was injured in the attack by al-Shabab in Somalia earlier this week, walks from the airplane to a waiting ambulance after being airlifted back to Nairobi for medical treatment, in Kenya Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016.

In a statement, Al-Shabab claimed they had killed more than 63 Kenyan “crusaders”.

The Islamist group claimed over 100 Kenyan soldiers were killed. Hence Al Shabab are launching desperate last attempts to create instability ” said the Prime Minister in his conclusion.

“We will hunt down the criminals involved… our soldiers’ blood will not be shed in vain”, he said.

“We will fight them deep in their hideouts”.

But while Gleeson said that was correct, he said he also partly accepted their lawyers’ characterizations of the men as freedom fighters who only joined al Shabaab in order to return to war-torn Somalia to fight against Ethiopia. If the death toll is confirmed, it would be the highest number of casualties Kenya’s military has suffered in a single incident since its troops invaded southern Somalia in October 2011.

A company of around 150 Kenyan soldiers was stationed at the El-Adde base.

However, both the Kenyan government and AMISOM officials have disputed the figure, terming it a propaganda.

Kenya police during Westgate attack.

Despite being pushed out of Somalias major towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country.

“The spate of extra-judicial killings carried out by the Kenyan authorities against Muslim leaders and scholars in Kenya, the systematic detention and harassment of innocent Muslims and the recent discovery of mass graves in Mandhera are all indicative”, the statement added.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Friday that “some of our patriots in uniform” were killed.