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12 Killed as al-Shabab Attacks Somali Military Base

by Harun Maruf

   At least 12 people were killed early Monday when al-Shabab militants
   carried out a raid on a Somali military base in the Lower Juba region.

   Officials told VOA Somali the attack targeted the Sanguni camp, located
   about 50 kilometers north of the port town of Kismayo.

   Mukhtar Abdi Mohamed, a unit commander with Somali forces in Sanguni,
   says troops identified two car bombs and detonated them before the
   vehicles could reach the base.

   Mohamed said 80 to 100 militants attacked the base from the north,
   sparking a fierce firefight. Somali officials say four soldiers and at
   least eight militants were killed, including the drivers of the two
   vehicles.

   "We had the information about the attack," Mohamed said.

   "If we didn't have prior information, we would not have been able to
   destroy the vehicles before they entered the camp," he added.

   Al-Shabab said it had "overrun" the camp and killed 27 government
   soldiers.

   Mohamed dismissed the al-Shabab report, calling it a "baseless claim
   intended to attract media attention."

   Sanguni is the same camp where an American soldier was killed in June
   when al-Shabab fired mortars at the base. It's not clear if any U.S.
   advisers were at Sanguni at the time of Monday's attack.