The military base housed Ugandan soldiers and African Union mission personnel; Photo: File
Mogadishu: Insurgents in Somalia have attacked an African Union peacekeeping mission and a Ugandan military base in the center of the country, killing 17 people and injuring scores.
According to the World News Agency, Al-Shabaab fighters attacked the Masagawa military base in the north of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. As a result of retaliatory firing, the attackers were forced to retreat.
Eyewitnesses said that there is now peace in the town as the army and militants have left the fighting to the forest where firing is still going on from both sides.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and claimed 73 soldiers were killed in the attack, while Captain Abdullah Muhammad said 12 fighters were killed in the retaliatory attack, but did not specify the number of soldiers killed.
Eyewitnesses told foreign media that 17 dead bodies and more than two dozen wounded were taken to the hospital in the clash between Al-Shabaab fighters and soldiers.
Al-Shabaab, a local militant group that claims affiliation with al-Qaeda, has been fighting since 2006 to topple Somalia’s government and enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Al-Shabaab has been pushed out of the capital, but other parts of the country are still under control by Al-Shabaab, and they continue to target government buildings, hotels and military installations in the capital.
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