Mogadishu: Days after the region was captured by government forces, al-Shabaab militants attacked a military base in the central Galgadud region on Monday, according to the Defense Ministry and the militant group.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, Abdullahi Ali Anod told state news agency SONA that the military successfully repulsed attacks on both foreign and local base housing in Qayyab, a village that al-Shabaab had been out of since last week. was done.
According to Ahmed Hassan, a military officer in the nearby town of Bahdo, the attack began around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) with two suicide car bombings, followed by hours of fierce fighting.
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"The city's communications facility was destroyed by al-Shabaab, and as a result, it is currently offline. We know that we killed five of al-Shabaab's fighters," Hassan said.
According to him, one car bomb blew out, and another hit a military truck that was parked at the base entrance. Although it was not immediately clear how many people were killed overall, he said at least nine soldiers were injured.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Abdiyasis Abu Musab said in a statement that the group used suicide car bombs to launch an attack in Qayb before attacking its fighters from various angles. According to Abu Musab, the fighters killed several soldiers while stealing their equipment and vehicles.
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Over the past three months, government forces have defeated al-Shabaab in several battlefields, taking back territory the organization has long occupied.
In retaliation, al-Shabaab carried out the deadliest explosions in the past five years at the Ministry of Education in the capital Mogadishu on October 29, killing at least 120 people.
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Since 2006, the al-Qaeda-linked group has killed thousands in its campaign to topple Somalia's central government and enforce its interpretation of Islamic law.