Al-Qaida associates Al-Shabaab militants on Sunday ran over a military base in South of Mogadishu killing at least 20 Somali National Army troops, reports have indicated.
During the heavy exchange of gunfire that lasted for several hours, the soldiers, who have been trained by AMISOM troops, managed to kill 13 militants.
Sources said militants detonated a suicide car bomb at the El-Salin military base followed by an infantry attack in the early hours of Sunday.
The militants briefly took over the base, a regional official told VOA Somali. A spokesman for Somali special forces said the militants attacked the base “in large numbers.”
Mowlid Ahmed Hassan said the fighting lasted about 40 minutes, insisting the troops ‘defended” the base. He said reinforcements have been sent to the base.
The attack comes barely 72 hours after Al-Shabaab commander Ahmed Umar warned Kenya and the US against taking over disputed Indian Ocean maritime border.
It's not the first time the militants have ran over military bases. Besides killing several SNA soldiers, the militants killed KDF soldiers in Kulbiyow and El Adde three years ago, killing a total of 270 soldiers.
Incidentally, the attack came amidst political wrangles in Somalia with President Mohamed Farmaajo's administration blocking the 7th President of Somalia, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was travelling to Kismayo Airport for inauguration of state President Ahmed Madobe.
Reports indicate that the former leader was blocked at Aden Abdulle Airport in Mogadishu, a move that has irked already worse situation on Somalia.
Sheikh Ahmed's successor, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took to his Twitter to condemn the mistreatment of the former leader by the current administration.
"Somalia has been waiting almost 30 years to take control of it’s airspace.It’s sad situation the government uses the management of the air space as a political weapon that can have a serious ramification on the political stability and the unity of the country," he wrote.
A statement by the Himilo Qaran party led by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed confirmed he was “blocked” from travelling to Kismayo.
Recently, Madobe fired warning to Mogadishu, accusing President Farmaajo of imposing unnecessary blockade to Jubaland, following banning of direct flights to Kismayo Airport.
"We took dead bodies and wounds on our shoulders as we entered Kismayo while he was having coffee at Starbucks at the time," warned Sheikh Madobe.