Somalia: AMISOM denies Al-Shabaab claims

12 Feb 12, 2010 - 7:04:42 AM

A spokesman for African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia refutes claims that an attack by Al-Shabaab insurgents on the troops’ base in the restive Mogadishu has killed senior officials.

Maj. Barigye Bahuko said the claims were false and fabricated, adding that no soldier was even killed in any attack by Al-Shabaab.

"The claims by Al-Shabaab that it killed officials are fabrications and baseless. I can simply describe as idlers joke,” he said.

He said any casualties caused by the enemy attack will be made public just like the deadly September 2009 attack on the AU base, which killed 17 soldiers, including the deputy force commander.

Al-Shabaab’s spkesman Sheikh Ali Mohammud Raghe Ali Dhere said on Wednesday that his group carried out attack on AU troops' base, killing at least ten soldiers.

He called on AU troops to leave the country; however, Bahuko said the peacekeepers will be staying in the war-torn country to carry out their duties.

The group frequently engage the peacekeepers, who are mandated to shoe up the UN-backed government, in fierce gun battle in Mogadishu.