Al-Shabaab Fighters Attack African Union Military Camp

Somali-based Al-Shabaab militants have attacked an African Union military camp in El-Baraf village, Middle Shabelle region.

Voice of America journalist Harun Maruf quoted Al-Shabaab media claiming their militants used suicide bombing (car bomb) followed by an infantry attack.

According to Maruf, casualties from El-Baraf attack is not yet clear.

El-Baraf is one of the military camps manned by African Union forces from Burundi.

For several years now Al-Shabaab has been carrying out complex raids on AU, Somali military camps.

The attack comes on the second day of #EidAlFitr.

Somali government media reported that the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) forces in El-Baraf repulsed the Al-Shabaab attack early Tuesday.

ATMIS has not yet spoken about the reported attack.

“We were awoken by huge blasts early in the morning. The blasts were at the African Union mission base. Heavy exchange of gunfire followed,” a local elder Mohamed Nur told Reuters by phone from El Baraf, about 130 km (80 miles) to the north of the capital Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab, which has been fighting for years to topple the central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“The Mujahideen launched a pre-dawn raid on an ATMIS (African Union Mission) military base in El-Baraf, middle Shabelle region,” al Shabaab said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

It added: “After a fierce firefight, the Mujahideen managed to overrun the base and are now in complete control of the entire military base.”