Mogadishu: The terror group al Shabaab said on Friday its fighters killed dozens of Kenyan troops when they attacked a remote military base in Somalia on Thursday, a claim the Kenyan army denied.
A spokesman for al Shabaab, which often launches attacks on the African troops fighting with the African Union's AMISOM force, said its terrorists killed at least 57 Kenyans at the base in the southern town of Kulbiyow, near the Kenyan border.
"That is false," Kenyan military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Njuguna told Reuters, without giving any casualty figures. "The operation is ongoing. We are receiving updates."
In January 2016, al Shabaab said it had killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers in El Adde, a Somali camp near the border with Kenya. The Kenyan military never gave details of casualties, but Kenya media reports suggested a toll of that magnitude.
"We are pursuing the Kenyan soldiers who ran away into the woods," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters about Friday's attack.
"Two mujahideen (fighters) rammed suicide car bombs into the base in Kulbiyow town before storming it," he said, adding that alongside counting 57 Kenyan bodies the group seized vehicles and weapons. "We have taken over the base."
Al Shabaab, whose assessment of casualties often differs markedly from official versions, typically rams the entrance to a target site with a car or truck bomb so fighters can storm in.
The group, which once ruled much of Somalia, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out the peacekeepers made up of soldiers from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Ethiopia and other African nations.
African Union and Somali troops have driven it from major urban strongholds and ports, but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.
A spokesman for al Shabaab, which often launches attacks on the African troops fighting with the African Union's AMISOM force, said its terrorists killed at least 57 Kenyans at the base in the southern town of Kulbiyow, near the Kenyan border.
"That is false," Kenyan military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Njuguna told Reuters, without giving any casualty figures. "The operation is ongoing. We are receiving updates."
"We are pursuing the Kenyan soldiers who ran away into the woods," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters about Friday's attack.
Advertisement
Al Shabaab, whose assessment of casualties often differs markedly from official versions, typically rams the entrance to a target site with a car or truck bomb so fighters can storm in.
Advertisement
African Union and Somali troops have driven it from major urban strongholds and ports, but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.
© Thomson Reuters 2017
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Kenya Man Who Allegedly Killed 42 Women To Be In Police Custody For 30 days Kenya Man Who Killed 42 Women In 2 Years Arrested As He Watched Euro Finals Pics: Tear Gas, Rocks, And Looting As Kenya Police And Protesters Clash Trainee IAS Officer Puja Khedkar Recalled To Academy, Training Put On Hold Under-Fire Trainee IAS Officer Accuses Pune Collector Of Harassment "No Defamatory Remarks Against Governor": High Court To Mamata Banerjee Study Abroad: Top 10 Affordable Universities In The UK Man Sets Mother On Fire Inside UP Police Station, Films Her Byju's Faces Insolvency Proceedings For Failure To Pay BCCI Rs 158.9 Crore Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.