23 July 2018•Update: 23 July 2018
By Mohammed Dhaysane
MOGADISHU
At least 12 people -- including both Somali army forces and enemy militants -- were killed and more than eight wounded when the militants stormed the 43rd battalion base in Somalia's lower Juba region on Monday, officials said.
Mukhtar Abdi, Somali National Army company commander in the village of Sanguni, said in a telephone interview that heavily armed al-Shabaab militants had attacked the base, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the port city of Kismayo.
"We were well informed that the militants were going to attack us, so we waited and defeated them," he said.
"We killed more than seven militants and also captured at least three wounded fighters," he explained.
"We lost four soldiers and five were wounded."
According to the commander, the army destroyed two al-Shabaab vehicles before the fighting began.
He also said that an estimated 80-100 al-Shabaab fighters had stormed the base.
Adan Isak Ali, deputy information minister, told the Somali National News Agency (SONNA) that the military had killed more than 80 al-Shabaab militants in the fighting, but said nothing about the military's casualties in the attack.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab took responsibility for the attack, also claiming it had killed 27 government forces.
