Somali Al-Shabaab says killed over 70 Ethiopian soldiers in surprise attack

MOGADISHU, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Somali Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abu Musab said on Saturday in a statement that his fighters killed more than 70 Ethiopian troopers in a surprise attack on their army base in southern country, but local residents put the number at 10.

Musab also acknowledged the deaths of five of his group's fighters in the battle. His claim could not be immediately independently verified.

The Islamist militants launched an attack on the military base in the village of Yurkud in the southern Gedo region on Saturday.

But local residents put the toll at 30, including 20 Islamist fighters, and said scores of others were injured in the attack.

"This is the fiercest battle launched by the Islamists against the Ethiopians since they entered Somalia. I can tell you 20 of the Islamists fighters got killed and the rest included government forces and Ethiopian troops," local resident Hashi Yarow told Xinhua by phone from the area.

Islamist fighters have lost the two key towns of Baidoa in the south and Beledweyne in the north to Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces.

Al-Shabaab has lost a number of key areas in the south and centre of the country as the radical group faces concerted offensive from Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers and armies from neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.

Somalia which has been embroiled in civil conflict for the past two decades has not had a central government in control in whole country since the collapse of former strongman Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

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Posted in: African Union, Al-Shabaab, Ethiopia, Ethiopian National Defense Force, Gedo, Mogadishu, Somalia, Yurkud