By Yassin Juma
MOGADISHU
At least five Al-Shabaab militants were killed Thursday in a daring attack on the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)'s largest base, located at the center of capital Mogadishu.
AMISOM spokesman Col. Ali Houmed told The Anadolu Agency that five out of eight Al-Shabaab fighters who had infiltrated the base had been killed.
A website close to the Al-Qaeda-linked group quoted one of its leaders as claiming responsibility for the attack on the Halane base near the Adam Abdullah International Airport and saying that group fighters had killed ten peacekeepers.
The death toll, however, could not be independently verified.
"AMISOM's force commander would like to reiterate that – contrary to other reports – AMISOM and UN staff are all accounted for," the mission said in a statement seen by AA.
"Three AMISOM soldiers and one civilian [were] injured," AMISOM wrote on its official Twitter handle.
The base hosts the country's UN offices, African Union offices, and several western embassies.
Government troops closed off streets leading to the base amid the sound of gunfire, according to eyewitnesses.
One worker at the Adam Abdullah International Airport had told AA earlier that the authorities had suspended all aviation activities at the airport.
The worker, who requested anonymity, said that explosions could still be heard inside the military base, out of which smoke continued to billow.
Somali authorities have yet to comment on the attack.
Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
Earlier this year, Somalia appeared to inch closer to stability after government troops and AU forces – deployed in the country since 2007 – drove Al-Shabaab from most of its strongholds.
www.aa.com.tr/en
