Al-Shabab Attacks Kenya Army Base in Somalia

Local Editor

Takfiri al-Shabab militants attacked a Kenyan military base in southern Somalia Friday in the second assault by the Al-Qaeda linked group this week.

The attack on the Kenya Defense Forces [KDF] base at Kolbiyow, close to the Kenyan border in Somalia's Lower Juba region, began with suicide truck bombers blasting their way into the camp, followed by militants attacking from different directions.

Al-Shabaab claimed in a statement to have overrun the base, captured military vehicles and equipment and to have killed 57 Kenyan soldiers.

"Fighters have taken control of the base and the overall Kolbiyow area after massacring the Kenyan infidels," the statement said.

KDF spokesman Paul Njuguna denied the al-Shabab claims and said Kenyan soldiers had fought back, killing many of the Takfiris.

Njuguna said Kenyan soldiers "fiercely engaged an al-Shabab group which had attempted to attack the camp" before dawn.

"KDF soldiers repulsed the terrorists killing scores," he said, but did not give any figure for Kenyan casualties.

The Takfiri al-Shabab frequently overstates the death toll from its attacks while Kenya commonly underplays its losses.

In January last year a Kenyan base at El-Adde was attacked and overrun by al-Shabab militants who claimed to have killed over 100 Kenyan soldiers. The government refused to give its own toll.

The al-Shabab, which once controlled much of Somalia, is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.

It launches regular attacks on government, military and civilian targets and had carried out a series of deadly assaults against foreign soldiers deployed in Somalia.

The African Union Mission in Somalia [AMISOM] is a 22,000-strong force comprising soldiers from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Over the last two years al-Shabab had rampaged through bases manned by Burundian soldiers in Lego, Ugandan troops in Janale and the Kenyans in El-Adde, inflicting high casualties and stealing military equipment each time.

The Kolbiyow raid is the second major attack this week in Somalia, coming three days after 28 people were killed when al-Shabab bombers and fighters attacked a hotel in the capital.

Somalia is due to hold a presidential vote in early February, signaling the end of a drawn-out electoral process in which a new parliament has also been selected.

Political infighting and ongoing insecurity plans for a universal vote in 2016, with lawmakers elected by specially selected delegates.

Somalia had not had an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of President Siad Barre's military regime, which ushered in more than two decades of anarchy and conflict in a country deeply divided along clan lines.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team