Somalia: Over 50 Amisom Soldiers Killed by Al-Shabaab, Say Witnesses

By NewsfromAfrica

At least 50 African Union soldiers are believed to have been killed and another 50 are missing after Al-Shabaab militants overran an AMISOM base  in Janaale District, Somalia on 1 September 2015, according to Witnesses.

People in the village of Lego, about 62 miles north-west of the capital Mogadishu, described intense fighting on Friday which left corpses strewn on the ground. Witnesses said there were as many as 50 bodies, some of which had been decapitated, but this could not be confirmed.

Alinur Mohamed, a local elder, said: “The fighting was the heaviest ever around this area. Al-Shabaab took full control of the base and killed many soldiers.”

"It is assessed that at least 50 Amison troops died," said a briefing note sent to diplomats by Western military officials and seen by AFP.

It said that in total around 100 soldiers were "unaccounted for" after the attack.

Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliate said the attack in Janale District, 80 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu in the Lower Shabelle region, was revenge for the killing of seven civilians by Ugandan troops at a wedding in the town of Merka in July.

Witnesses said Al-Shabaab took over the camp, looting weapons stores and loading corpses onto trucks.

The group has previously gathered the bodies of dead soldiers for use in propaganda videos of its attacks.

"They were collecting dead bodies, I saw nearly 30 soldiers killed during the fighting," said local resident Hussein Idris.

The militants are fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu, which is protected by 22,000 Amisom troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Tuesday's attack on the camp in Janale is one of the deadliest yet against Amisom troops.

The members of the Security Council condemned the attacked and  expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the people and Government of the Republic of Uganda.