At least 37 African Union soldiers were killed in an attack by
Al-Shabaab militants in southern Somalia on Tuesday, according to military
sources in Uganda and Somalia.
A source from
Somalia's security services told CNN that at least 25 Somali government troops
were killed in the fight. Twelve Ugandan soldiers also were killed, Uganda's
military spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda confirmed.
The attack by
the Somali terrorist group occurred on a remote African Union base in the town
of Janaale. It was the largest loss sustained by the Ugandan contingent of the
AU Mission to Somalia, or AMISOM, since 2012.
Ankunda told CNN
by phone that 10 of the fallen soldiers' bodies had already arrived back in
Uganda.
Other Western
sources said that as many as 50 AU troops were killed.
The
22,000-strong, United Nations-backed AMISOM force consists of troops from
Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sierra Leone. It has been dealt serious
blows in recent months in Al-Shabaab attacks. The terror group seems to be
shifting tactics, moving from smaller, asymmetrical suicide-bombing attacks on
civilian, government and military targets to larger and more sustained
operations solely focused on smaller, remote AU bases.
A member of
Al-Shabaab told CNN that the battalion behind Tuesday's attack is the same
group of about 200 fighters who assaulted an Ethiopian convoy and a base
predominantly held by Burundian soldiers in Leego, Somalia, in July. Those two
attacks killed dozens of AMISOM troops. The fighters call themselves the Abu
Zubair Battalion -- named after the Al-Shabaab leader (a.k.a. Ahmed Abdi
Godane) who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Somalia in September 2014.
Al-Shabaab says
the attack was in retaliation for alleged AMISOM attacks on civilians.
The United
States on Thursday condemned Al-Shabaab for its "brutality in its depraved
efforts to destabilize Somalia and deny the people of Somalia the peaceful,
prosperous future they deserve."
A Western source
told CNN that the AMISOM had recently withdrawn their heavy weaponry from the
Janaale base to be used elsewhere against the Islamic extremists.
The source says
Al-Shabaab also destroyed two nearby bridges, trapping the Ugandan soldiers.
Militants loaded a car with explosives to breach the perimeter of the base.
The source added
that poor weather conditions prevented U.N. air assets from reaching the attack
to help evacuate the wounded Ugandan soldiers.
The U.N. has
been criticized for not providing funding for more air assets in the fight. The
Ugandan military has had no troop transport or armed helicopters in Somalia.
Because of damaged roads after more than 20 years of civil war, ground
transportation is slow and unreliable, making it harder to respond quickly when
remote bases such as Janaale come under attack.
Ethiopia and
Kenya have attack and troop transport helicopters. Kenya also uses fighter jets
to strike Al-Shabaab targets, and the U.S. uses drones at times to help with surveillance
and launch missiles at high-value terrorist targets.
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