Al Shabaab attacks an African Union mission base in southern Somalia

May 26. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The terrorist group Al Shabaab has launched this Friday an attack against an important military base of the forces of the Transition Mission of the African Union in Somalia (ATMIS) in the south of the African country, without there being any information about victims for the moment.

Al Shabaab has indicated that it has taken control of the base, located in Bula-Marer, in the Lower Shabelle region, and that it has killed dozens of Ugandan soldiers deployed there, according to the Somali radio station Radio Shabelle, if Well, neither the Somali government nor ATMIS have yet ruled on what happened.

The attack took place just a day after Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated that the country is “at a key moment” and stressed that the security forces seek to “eliminate the threat of extremist elements, such as Al Shabaab to ensure the safety of the population.

For his part, the head of the Somali Army, Yusuf Rage Odoua, highlighted the achievements “in the tireless fight against the extremist group”, while revealing that the second phase of the offensive against the group seeks to “liberate” several areas in the states of Southwest and Jubaland, as reported by the Somali news agency SONNA.

Somalia has in recent months increased offensives against Al Shabaab, linked to Al Qaeda, with support from clans and local militias as part of a series of decisions taken by the president, who promised upon taking office to put the fight against terrorism at the center of his efforts to stabilize the African country.