BY ABDI SHEIKH AND FEISAL OMAR
Sunday, May 01, 2016
Al Shabaab insurgents killed 15 Somali soldiers and retook a town northeast of the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, just one day after it had fallen to government forces, the military said.
The Islamist group, which wants to topple Somalia's Western-backed government, said it had killed 32 soldiers in the assault. It was not possible to verify independently the death toll. Al Shabaab has inflated casualty figures in the past.
"The soldiers (at the base) were few and there were no AMISOM or other military nearby for reinforcement. We killed more than 10 militants in fighting on Saturday and Sunday," Omar added. AMISOM is the African Union peacekeeping mission.
Residents of Runirgood said they had seen dead bodies of both al Shabaab and government soldiers in the town.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, said its fighters had killed 32 soldiers and captured three vehicles.
"It was a fierce battle and thank Allah, we recaptured the town," he told Reuters.
Somalia's government is battling to rebuild the Horn of Africa nation after more than two decades of conflict. Al Shabaab ruled large parts of Somalia until 2011, when it was driven out of Mogadishu by African Union and Somali troops.
It still controls some rural areas, however, and carries out frequent attacks in the capital and other areas.
Last week it attacked a Somali government military base and killed five soldiers near the northwestern town of Baidoa.
(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Gareth Jones)