Al Shabaab militants attack Somali army base, says dozens dead | World Defense

Al Shabaab militants attack Somali army base, says dozens dead

Redheart

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Al Shabaab militants attack Somali army base, says dozens dead| Reuters

Al Shabaab fighters attacked a remote Somali army base and entered a nearby town close to the border with Kenya on Friday, saying they had killed dozens of Kenyan soldiers in an African Union force supporting the government.

Somali and Kenyan military officials said fighters seized the Somali army base near the town of Ceel Cadde, about 550 km (340 miles) west of Mogadishu in a region near Kenya's border.

Al Shabaab said it killed more than 60 Kenyan soldiers from the African force AMISOM, which said there was a battle for the base without giving details. Kenya's Defence Ministry said both sides suffered casualties but said numbers were not confirmed.

"Our gallant soldiers reacted swiftly to protect their camp," Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said. "Regrettably, some of our patriots in uniform paid the ultimate price."

But he said "we will not be cowed" by the attack, which al Shabaab said was to drive Kenyans and others out of Somalia.

A shopkeeper in the Ceel Cadde town said soldiers from AMISOM appeared to have left the town and fighters were on the streets. "We see al Shabaab in every corner of town," shopkeeper Abdullahi Iidle told Reuters. "Some residents have fled."

Al Shabaab has been driven out of major strongholds in Somalia by AMISOM and Somali army offensives launched last year. But the group still controls some rural areas and often launches guerrilla-style assaults and bomb attacks.

The group, which is aligned with al Qaeda, said it took over the base after a suicide bomber rammed its gates, and also controlled the town, capturing nearly 30 trucks and armored vehicles.

"This attack sends a clear message to the Kenyan government that their military's invasion of our Muslim lands and the massacre of innocent Muslims perpetrated by the Kenyan crusaders will not be without severe consequences," al Shabaab said.

The group, which said it would "expel" the invaders, said in a statement that more than 63 Kenyans soldiers were killed.

Al Shabaab, which said the base was overrun, has inflated casualty figures in the past, while the Somali government and other official estimates often play down numbers.

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) said al Shabaab fighters overran the Somali army base and AMISOM had counter-attacked. A senior Somali military official also confirmed the militants had taken over the base.

"AMISOM has gone out of the town and base for strategic reasons," Somali Colonel Farah Surow, who is based about 100 km (60 miles) from the Ceel Cadde base, told Reuters.

African Union troops, now numbering about 22,000 from several African nations, have spent nearly a decade battling al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia, a country mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991.

Al Shabaab has in the past year staged multiple attacks against African Union bases in Somalia, part of a guerrilla warfare strategy to drive out foreign troops and impose its harsh version of Islamic law across the Horn of Africa nation.
 

Susimi

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Horrible incident to have happened. Doesn't Al-Shabaab have links with ISIS and did they not claim affiliation with the group at some point last year or was it another African terrorist group?
 

Corzhens

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To be honest, I am getting more confused as I read the posts in this site. There's Al Qaeda, the olden Taliban, ISIS and ISIL, the Kurds, oh, so many groups, some rebels and some jihadists. This Al Shabaab is new to me and Somalia is also alien to me. From what I remember, the Somalis were popular in their piracy activities in the sea. Pardon me for that if you are a Somali.
 

Jaeger

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Horrible incident to have happened. Doesn't Al-Shabaab have links with ISIS and did they not claim affiliation with the group at some point last year or was it another African terrorist group?
yes they allied with ISIS and Boko Haram. One Reason Somalia, Mali, Chad, Benin, Nigeria etc joined the coalition of 34 countries with Saudi Arabia is to counter them.
 

Redheart

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This Al Shabaab is new to me and Somalia is also alien to me.
Al Shabaab is a terrorist organization whose goal is to establish Sharia law in Somalia. Even though that's their primary concern they've conducted terrorist attacks in East African nations they believe are meddling in affairs that don't concern them. But it would have been impossible for these nations not to take action when Al Shabaab was chopping off people's hands and committing a lot of other atrocities.

You can read more about the terrorist organization here:
Al-Shabaab (militant group) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

rz3300

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Here is yet another headline that will probably stay out of much of the news. I guess it is hard to cover everything when these attacks are happening on a daily basis in various parts of the world. These are dangerous people, and the more that these stories come out the more I worry about a unified response and its possibility of success.
 

Corzhens

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Al Shabaab is a terrorist organization whose goal is to establish Sharia law in Somalia. Even though that's their primary concern they've conducted terrorist attacks in East African nations they believe are meddling in affairs that don't concern them. But it would have been impossible for these nations not to take action when Al Shabaab was chopping off people's hands and committing a lot of other atrocities.

You can read more about the terrorist organization here:
Al-Shabaab (militant group) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From that term Sharia Law, the Al Shabaab looks like another fanatic group like ISIS particularlyh with the atrocities you mentioned like chopping off hands. And it looks to me like that is a civil war in Somalia with the emergence of that Al Shabaab versus the Somalian army. This is another worry for non-Muslim countries because it seems like the Muslims are conquering the world.
 

Redheart

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Actually Al Shaabab is conquering anything. Articles I've read seem to suggest that the group isn't as powerful as it was a couple of years back. It's got only 9,000 or so fighters and all they do is engage in guerrilla warfare and conduct terror attacks which target civilians.

I doubt though that anything can be done to save Somalia since they've been fighting each other since they ousted their president in 1990 or thereabouts.
 
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Well as Redheart said Somalia has been a mess for a long time. And will continue to be a mess. So it's unfortunate that these things happen... the Kenyans are there to try and stabilise the area (the countries have a common border) but looks like they aren't doing much. (surprise surprise)
 

Redheart

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There are some problems which can't be fixed. The Kenyans made a mistake getting into Somalia and if they are wise they should leave before they lose more of their people because as long as they are in the country, each time they kill a terrorist, the country must brace itself for reprisals.
 
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