MOGADISHU (SD) – Islamist militant al-Shabaab fighters have launched an attack on a Kenyan military base in southern Somalia.
According to locals in Hosingow village, hundreds of heavily armed al-Shabaab fighters stormed the base, prompting heavy clashes with Kenyan military soldiers.
In a statement, al-Qaeda-linked group said it has killed more than 20 soldiers and destroyed military vehicles and weapons.
Kenyan government has not yet commented on the claims by the militants.
Al-Shabaab fighters have been fighting KDF military since 2011 when the East Africa nation sent its troops to Somalia.
In January 2016, heavily armed al-Shabaab fighters stormed KDF base in El-Adde town in Somalia’s southern region, Gedo.
The attack reportedly killed over 200 Kenyan soldiers and captured more than 30 soldiers.
Last month, Al-Shabaab militants released a video of a man allegedly captured in the El Adde attack asking the President to withdraw troops from Somalia and negotiate release.
The 14-minute video released featured a 53-year-old Gerishon Wasike from Trans-Nzoia County, who identifies himself as a KDF soldier and is in the full Kenyan military uniform.
Wasike, gave details of how the terror group overran an Amisom camp on January 15, killing a number the state is yet to confirm.
The prisoner who claimed to have joined the Kenya Defense Forces in 1990 accused Kenya government and its leadership of neglecting Kenyan prisoners of war who are under al-Shabaab hands.
El Adde was the third AMISOM forward operating base overrun by al-Shabaab in seven months at the time.
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