Al Shabab attack in Kenya leaves six soldiers dead

At least six Kenyan soldiers were killed and four others wounded in an ambush on their convoy traveling in El Wak town, Mandera County, near the border with Somalia.

In a brief statement, Al Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked group based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group said it had killed six soldiers and wounded four others, two of them in critical condition.

The group also claimed to have burned a vehicle mounted with a machine gun. This claim remains independently unverified, and Kenyan authorities have yet to comment on the attack.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated group has killed dozens, including police and military soldiers, in ambushes and roadside bomb attacks, and continues to carry out cross-border assaults in Kenya’s remote counties of Mandera and Garissa.

The group has pledged to continue its attacks until Kenya withdraws its military personnel, serving as part of multinational efforts to stabilize Somalia following more than three decades of conflict. Since 2011, Kenya has lost hundreds of soldiers in Al Shabab attacks in Somalia.

The African Union peacekeeping mission is set to end on December 31, leaving Somali army forces to take over the country’s security responsibilities.

On Tuesday, the extremist group claimed it had killed three Kenyan peacekeeping soldiers and wounded two others in a roadside bomb explosion in the port town of Kismayo, located in the Lower Jubba region, about 500 km south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Despite losing control of many towns, the militant group has stepped up its attacks since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an “all-out war” to drive them from Somalia.

Driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by Somali and African Union forces, the extremist group continues to carry out deadly attacks. For over a decade, they have been fighting to overthrow the Somali government and impose a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

Al Shabaab still controls large areas in southern and central Somalia, from which it is believed to launch attacks against Somali National Army bases, African Union peacekeepers, and the capital, Mogadishu.

Source » mareeg.com