Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Mil Mi-171E of the Kenya Air Force seen at Wilson Airport - Photo: Kenya Air Force
MOGADISHU (HOL) – Kenyan fighters jets have carried out fresh air strikes on militants bases in southwestern Somalia as a large-scale manhunt continues for missing soldiers following a deadly attack on an army base, officials said Monday.
The Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab group which carried out the deadly attack on El-Adde military camp which housed Kenyan forces who are parts of African Union forces in Somalia claimed that it killed more than 100 soldiers during the complex attack last week.
However, the Kenyan government which confirmed it lost soldiers in the attack declined to either confirm or deny the figures claimed by Al-Shabab.
Helicopters have airlifted some of the soldiers wounded in the attack while the military also claimed it rescued some soldiers in El-Adde as the government faces domestic pressure to bring back the missing soldiers.
In a statement on Sunday, Al-Shabab claimed it captured some Kenyan soldiers during the attack.
Residents in Gedo region reported loud explosions as warplanes struck Al-Shabab strongholds.
In the meantime, Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarkehas condemned the attack Monday, vowing his government would eradicate ‘remnants’ of Al-Shabab from the whole country.
“Evidently the terrorist group is faced with mounting pressure in their small hideaway pockets due to the well planned military operations carried out by the Somali National Army and the AMISOM
troops.” He said in a statement.