Sharjah 24 – AFP: Heavily armed “Al-Shabaab” terrorist group stormed an African Union (AU) base in Somalia on Tuesday, triggering a fierce firefight that left an unknown number of casualties, a local military commander and witnesses said.
AU forces dispatched helicopter gunships after the pre-dawn car bomb and gun attack on a camp housing Burundian peacekeepers near Ceel Baraf, a village about 160 kilometres northeast of the capital Mogadishu, the sources said.
"There was heavy fighting and casualties inflicted on both sides, but we don't have more details about this incident so far," local military commander Mohamed Ali said by phone.
"They launched the attack with a car bomb blast before a heavy exchange of gunfire broke out," he added.
“Al-Shabaab” has been waging a deadly insurgency against Somalia's fragile central government for more than a decade.
It issued a statement claiming responsibility for the assault and saying it had killed dozens of Burundian soldiers.
Its claim could not be verified and there was no immediate comment from the AU's transition mission in Somalia, or ATMIS.
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