Al-Shabab attack AMISOM base, kill 59 soldiers

Al-shabab killed 59 Ugandan soldiers in lower shabelle region (courtesy)

Over 50 Ugandan soldiers have been killed when Al Shabaab militiamen attacked their base on Sunday in the latest of a series of bloody strikes against peacekeepers in Somalia.

The army says the battled ensued after the suspected al-Shabab terrorists attempted to attack AMISOM Forward Operating Bases at Qoryole, Buulo Mareer and Golwen in Lower Shabelle Region of Somalia.

Lt. Col Deo Akiiki, the deputy army spokesperson has confirmed the Sunday morning attack and said eight of the vehicles belonging to the terrorists were destroyed.

“A large number of al Shabaab fighters began firing from under the trees, it was a hellish battle,” Somali army Major Farah Osman, who is stationed near the AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) base, said.

Since withdrawing from Mogadishu in 2011, the al Qaeda-linked group has lost control of most parts of Somalia’s cities and towns. But it still retains a strong presence in regions outside the capital.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesman for al Shabaab said 14 of the group’s fighters and 59 AMISOM troops were killed in the incident.

 A series of recent attacks  by Al-Shabaab have underlined the movement’s resilience. In October the group was responsible for one of the bloodiest single terrorist attacks since 2001 when a bomb killed more than 500 people in Mogadishu.

On 26th of January 2016, Al-Shabaab killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers at their base in El Adde, near Somalia’s southern border.