Al-Shabaab Militants Attack Military Base In Southern Somalia, Kill 27 Troops

FILE IMAGE: The Daily Nation

Members of the al-Shabaab militant group attacked a military base with a suicide car bomb in southern Somalia, the group said on July 23 adding that 27 troops were killed.

According to the statement, the group attacked the base in Baar Sanguni, located about 50 km distant from the port city of Kismayu.

“We first attacked the base with a suicide car bomb and then stormed,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s spokesman for military operations, claimed. “We killed 27 soldiers and took the base. Some soldiers fled into the jungles.”

In response to the attack, the Somalia military sent reinforcements to the area.

According to Reuters, the military refused to provide details on the situation in the area saying it has no details about besides the fact that heavy fighting was ongoing there.

Al-Shabaab is an al-Qaeda linked militant group operating in Somalia. Formally, it is aiming to capture the country and to impsoe a Sharia law there. On the same time, traffiking, including drugs and arms traffiking, is among the key sources of the group’s income.