Somalia al Shabaab militants have stormed into a base used by Ethiopian troops after ramming a suicide car bomb into the entrance in the latest assault on soldiers serving with the African Union’s AMISOM force, the Islamist group says.
The base at Halgan town lies in a region of central Somalia about 300km north of the capital, Mogadishu.
Residents said they heard a huge explosion at the base and a heavy exchange of gunfire shortly before dawn on Thursday. They reported gunfire could still be heard at least an hour after the initial blast.
“Our fighters stormed the Halgan base of AMISOM,” al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters.
He said the group used a suicide car bomb and then militants had exchanged fire with Ethiopian troops there.
“It was a huge blast. It destroyed the gate and parts of the base,” he said.
AMISOM had no immediate comment.
Source: AAP
