Editor TLN
At least 54 soldiers were killed in an attack by radical Islamists from Al Shabab, affiliated with Al Qaeda, carried out on May 26 against a base of the African Union (AU) controlled by Ugandans in Somalia, according to a first balance announced by the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
First modification:
“We have found the lifeless bodies of 54 soldiers, including a commander,” Musevini said, according to quotes collected in a statement posted on his official Twitter account.
Al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabab radical Islamists claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out at dawn in Bulo Marer, 120 km southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, with a car bomb and kamikazes. The assault led to clashes with automatic weapons.
Al Shabab has spent more than fifteen years fighting the Somali government, supported by the international community, to establish Islamic law in this country in the Horn of Africa.
To confront the insurrection, the African Union deployed in 2007 a force made up of soldiers and police from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, called Amismom and authorized by the UN Security Council.
In April 2022, another force, called Atmis, took over from Amismom with the goal of handing over all protection tasks in the country to Somali forces by the end of 2024.
