Shabaab claims it killed 173 Burundian troops in a large-scale assault on a military base in southern Somalia. Neither the African Union nor Burundi has commented on Shabaab’s casualty numbers.
Shabaab has claimed a number of attacks in recent days across southern Somalia, including briefly recapturing the strategic town of Balad just north of Mogadishu.
In a newly released video, Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahmoud Rage addresses graduates of a training camp for foreign fighters. “Many” of the graduates are from Kenya and, Rage says, they should form an “army that will conquer Kenya so that we may return to our families and relatives in a state of honor and glory.”
No date was given for the ambush, but it was likely recent as the jihadist group has promised to step up attacks during the holy month of Ramadan.
The images released by Shabaab buttress its claims of a high death toll.
More than 50 troops from Burundi are reported to have been killed. The attack comes just one week after Shabaab killed at least 60 Ethiopian troops in another attack in southern Somalia.
At least 100 dead in Burundi attack by rebel group – military source
East African rapid reaction force ready by December: officials
