Monitoring Desk
MOGADISHU: Several soldiers were killed as Al-Shabaab militants attacked a military base in a town of Somalia recently recaptured from the Islamists on Tuesday, local army officials said.
The troubled African nation has witnessed an increase in attacks as government troops and allied militias launch a declared “all-out” war against the Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The jihadists attacked the base at Janay Abdale, located about 60 kilometers (40 miles) outside the port city of Kismayo.
Somali army officers said the Al-Shabaab militants used explosive-laden vehicles to launch an attack on the base before they were repelled.
“In the fighting, we have lost seven soldiers,” Mohamed Rashed, a local military officer, told AFP by phone.
Sugow Abdi, another officer, who was among the troops’ reinforcements sent to the army base, said several soldiers were killed in heavy fighting.
“Fifteen soldiers who were injured in the attack were taken to the hospital in Kismayo region,” he told AFP by phone.
Al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the attack.
Bloody insurgency in Somalia
Somali troops wrested control of Janay Abdale from the Al-Shabaab militants in January as part of a surge in the government offensive against the militants.
Al-Shabaab militants have been waging a bloody insurgency against the central govt in the fragile country for around 15 years.
In recent months, the Somali army and local militias known as “Macawisley” have regained chunks of territory in the central Hirshabelle and Galmudug states in an operation backed by the United States air strikes and an African Union force.
Despite the gains by the pro-govt forces, the militants have continued to demonstrate the ability to strike back with lethal force against civilian and military targets.
In the deadliest Al-Shabaab militants attack since the offensive was launched last year, 121 people were killed in two car bomb explosions at the education ministry in Mogadishu in October.
Although forced out of Mogadishu and other key urban centers more than a decade ago, Al-Shabaab remains entrenched in parts of rural central and southern Somalia.
