MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – At least 26 people were killed after Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants stormed an army base in central Somalia on Friday, Caasimada Online news website reported.
Several vehicles packed with explosives hit the army base followed by a direct attack, triggering heavy gun battle that lasted for more than an hour early on Friday morning. The targeted base is located in Qayib village in Galgadud region.
In a statement, Al-Shabaab said it had killed 43 soldiers and wounded 51 others, also claiming to have overrun the base, seizing five vehicles.
Somali deputy minister of information Abdirahman Yusuf Al Adala said troops had repulsed the dawn attack on Qayib village, killing 30 militants. There has been no independent confirmation of both sides’ claims.
Citing journalists who received access to Qayib hours after the fighting stopped on Friday afternoon, Caasimada Online website reported that 26 soldiers and clan militias were killed in the assault. A number of injured people were taken to hospitals in the nearby towns of Bahdo and Adakibir, it added.
It is the second time the insurgents attacked the base in just two weeks. Earlier this month, militants released images purporting to show dead bodies of soldiers killed and vehicles seized during its first attack on the Somali army base in Qayib.
The attack has come days after Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud traveled to a number of frontline towns to reinvigorate a slowing offensive aimed at dislodging militants from the two central states of Hirshabelle and Galgadud.
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