Somalia’s Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the death of at least 30 people after an attack at Wisil army base, in Galmudug regional State.
Major Mohamed Awale, a military officer in Galmudug said the insurgents used car bombs in the assault on a military base in Galmudug’s Wisil town, located in central Somalia -a semi-autonomous state, thereby provoking a heated battle with government troops and armed residents.
“They attacked the base with two car bombs and fierce fighting that lasted over an hour followed,” he said.
“The car bombs damaged the military vehicles…residents were well-armed and reinforced the base and chased the al Shabaab.”
Seventeen soldiers and thirteen civilians died in the fighting, Awale said. For over a decade, the al-Qaeda-allied insurgents have been fighting in Somalia, attempting to overthrow the country’s central government and establish its own theocracy.
The Somalia government condemned the attack and said 41 al Shabaab assailants had been killed in the fighting.
Somalia state news agency, SONNA added that the military and armed residents pursued the attackers.
The statement says, those injured in the attack have been flown to the capital Mogadishu for treatment.
Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack via a statement on its Radio Al Andalus and said its fighters have killed over 30 soldiers, leaving 40 others, wounded.
Two weeks ago, the Somali National Army (SNA) reported it killed seven al-Shabaab members and wounded several others who managed to escape.