Attack on UPDF: AMISOM verifying casualties

Sep 02, 2015

AMISOM is verifying the number of casualties and extent of the damage following an attack on an African Union base in Somalia, the head of AMISOM, Ambassador Maman Sidikou has said.



AMISOM is verifying the number of casualties and extent of the damage following an attack on an African Union base in Somalia, the head of AMISOM, Ambassador Maman Sidikou has said.


“I commiserate with the government and people of Uganda on the losses suffered during this heinous attack,”  Sidikou tweeted.

He said that although AMISOM troops undertook a tactical withdrawal following the initial explosive attack they have regained full control of the base.

Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants briefly seized control of an African Union base Tuesday after ramming a suicide car bomb into it, the AU said, adding it had regained control.

The AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said the base at  Janale, manned by Ugandan troops, "came under attack from Al-Shebab militants" with the attackers using a "car loaded with explosives to trigger the attack" after which they engaged the soldiers in a gunbattle.

"Although our troops undertook a tactical withdrawal following the initial vehicle-borne explosive attack, they have since consolidated and regained full control of the base," the African Union statement added.

It did not give details of the number of casualties suffered in the morning attack but admitted that some soldiers had died.

 

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