Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Regional Al-Shebab commander Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim and witnesses said the ambush occurred between the villages of Taabto and Dobley.
"We ambushed the enemy convoy this afternoon and inflicted heavy casualties on them. The mujahideen fighters destroyed several of the military trucks in the convoy," Ibrahim said.
The Kenyan military spokesman could not be reached to confirm the insurgents' claim.
"We heard heavy gunfire and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) fired but we don't know the casualties," an elder in Taabto, Abdirahman Osman, told AFP.
"The Kenyan troops often use that road which links Dobley and Taabto but the firefight this afternoon was very intense."
Kenyan soldiers and tanks rolled into Shabaab-controlled southern Somalia some two weeks ago to fight the insurgents and curtail their ability to launch cross-border attacks.
Source: AFP