[Mhiz Rebecca]

Islamist Shabaab fighters attacked a Kenyan
military base in southern Somalia on Friday in
their latest assault on foreign and national army
outposts.
The attack on the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF)
base at Kolbiyow, close to the Kenyan border in
Somalia’s Lower Juba region, began with suicide
truck bombers blasting their way into the camp,
followed by militants attacking from different
directions.
Shabaab claimed in a statement to have overrun
the base, captured military vehicles and
equipment and to have killed scores of Kenyan
soldiers.
“Fighters have taken control of the base and the
overall Kolbiyow area after massacring the
Kenyan infidels,” the statement said.
KDF spokesman Paul Njuguna denied the base had
been overrun, but gave no casualty figures.
“We are engaging the enemy and we have
actually repulsed them, but it is ongoing,”
Njuguna said.
Shabaab frequently overstates the death toll from
its attacks while Kenya commonly underplays its
losses.
In January last year a Kenyan base at El-Adde was
attacked and overrun by Shabaab fighters who
claimed to have killed over 100 Kenyan soldiers.
The government never gave its own toll.
The Shabaab, which once controlled much of
Somalia, is fighting to overthrow the
internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.
It launches regular attacks on government,
military and civilian targets and has carried out a
series of deadly assaults against foreign soldiers
deployed in Somalia as part of an African Union
force.
On Tuesday at least 28 people were killed when
Shabaab bombers and fighters attacked a hotel in
the capital.