Heavily armed Al-Shabaab jihadists stormed an African Union (AU) base in Somalia on Tuesday, triggering a fierce firefight that left an unknown number of casualties.
This was disclosed by a local military commander and other witnesses.
AU forces were said to have dispatched helicopter gunships after the pre-dawn car bomb and gun attack on a camp housing Burundian peacekeepers near Ceel Baraf, a village about 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu.
“There was heavy fighting and casualties inflicted on both sides, but we don’t have more details about this incident so far,” local military commander Mohamed Ali said.
“They launched the attack with a car bomb blast before a heavy exchange of gunfire broke out,” he added.
Al-Shabaab has been waging a deadly insurgency against Somalia’s fragile central government for more than a decade.
It issued a statement claiming responsibility for the assault and saying it had killed dozens of Burundian soldiers.
