MOGADISHU: Heavily armed Al-Shabab jihadist fighters on Tuesday attacked a military base in Somalia where African Union peacekeepers are stationed, causing casualties, a local military commander and witnesses said.
The pre-dawn raid targeted a camp housing Burundian troops near Ceel Baraf village about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu, the sources said.
“The terrorists attacked the Burundian army base outside Ceel Baraf early this morning, there was heavy fighting and casualties inflicted on both sides, but we don’t have more details about this incident so far,” local military commander Mohamed Ali told told AFP by phone.
“They launched the attack with a car bomb blast before a heavy exchange of gunfire broke out,” he added.
Al-Shabab, which has been waging a deadly insurgency against Somalia’s fragile central government for more than a decade, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the assault.
There was no immediate comment from the African Union’s mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
Al-Shabab attacks AU base in Somalia, casualties reported
https://arab.news/6b5pj
Al-Shabab attacks AU base in Somalia, casualties reported
- The pre-dawn raid targeted a camp housing Burundian troops near Ceel Baraf village
Bomb attacks on Thailand petrol stations injure 4: army
- Authorities did not announce any arrests or say who may be behind the attacks
BANGKOK: Assailants detonated bombs at nearly a dozen petrol stations in Thailand’s south early Sunday, injuring four people, the army said, the latest attacks in the insurgency-hit region.
A low-level conflict since 2004 has killed thousands of people as rebels in the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia battle for greater autonomy.
Several bombs exploded within a 40-minute period after midnight on Sunday, igniting 11 petrol stations across Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, an army statement said.
Authorities did not announce any arrests or say who may be behind the attacks.
“It happened almost at the same time. A group of an unknown number of men came and detonated bombs which damaged fuel pumps,” Narathiwat Governor Boonchauy Homyamyen told local media, adding that one police officer was injured in the province.
A firefighter and two petrol station employees were injured in Pattani province, the army said.
All four were admitted to hospitals, none with serious injuries, a Thai army spokesman told AFP.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that security agencies believed the attacks were a “signal” timed with elections for local administrators taking place on Sunday, and “not aimed at insurgency.”
The army’s commander in the south, Narathip Phoynok, told reporters he ordered security measures raised to the “maximum level in all areas” including at road checkpoints and borders.
The nation’s deep south is culturally distinct from the rest of Buddhist-majority Thailand, which took control of the region more than a century ago.
The area is heavily policed by Thai security forces — the usual targets of insurgent attacks.
