51 soldiers feared killed in Al-Shabaab attack on Kenyan military base

Al-Shabaab attacked a Kenyan army base in southern Somalia yesterday ,claiming it killed no fewer than 51 soldiers in the process.



Armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles,the terrosists struck the Kulbiyow base catching the soldiers unawares.

But the Kenyan defence authorities denied the death of any of its soldiers saying that instead the attack was repelled and ‘scores’ of the extremists killed.

The Islamist militants gave details of the attack in a statement on Radio Andalus, a pro-insurgency broadcaster, and said that equipment and ammunition was also seized in the raid.

However, Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Njuguna confirmed the attack but denied there had been casualties.

“A big operation is currently ongoing, nobody has had time to count casualties, mostly on their side,” he said by phone from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

He dismissed as ‘propaganda’ al-Shabaab’s claim that it had killed tens of Kenyan soldiers .

Al-Shabaab, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, has waged an insurgency in the Horn of Africa nation since 2006 in a bid to impose its version of Islamic law.

Although it was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by government and African Union forces, it continues to stage deadly gun and bomb attacks.

In January 2016, the al-Qaeda-linked insurgents attacked a Kenyan camp near the border at El Adde and claimed 100 Kenyan soldiers were killed.

The Kenyan government acknowledged the fatalities, without giving its own toll.