| ||
Fighting between peacekeepers and al-Shabab leaves 53 soldiers dead and scores wounded, the vast majority from Burundi. Last Modified: 05 Mar 2011 18:24 GMT | ||
At least 50 African Union (AU) peacekeepers have died in fighting in Somalia in a major offensive against al-Shabab fighters, officials have told news agencies. The fighting started two weeks ago in the Horn of African nation which has had no central government for two decades and is struggling to rein in the group, the former military wing of the deposed Islamic Court Union. Two Nairobi-based diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least 43 Burundian and 10 Ugandan troops have been killed since February 18, citing information from people involved in the operation. The AU force, known as AMISOM, has publicly confirmed only a handful of deaths since the fighting broke out. "In reality, 43 soldiers of the Burundi contingent ... have been killed, another four are missing and 110 were wounded during the last joint offensive ... in Mogadishu," a senior officer who declined to be named due to the sensivity of the issue said. "The majority of these soldiers were killed on the first day of the offensive. They came upon many insurgents at a major target located near the former defence ministry which we conquered." The officer added: "The troops' morale is good despite these losses which are the worst since we have been deployed in Somalia, because we achieved our goals." Base captured "By taking these positions we have effectively reduced their freedom of manoeuvre in that sector," Mugisha told a news conference in Nairobi. The latest offensive aims to break al-Shabab's hold on large swathes of the country's south and central regions. The transitional government has been promising a full-scale war against al-Shabab for years, but co-ordination among its poorly trained, seldom-paid government forces has delayed that push. A report last month by the think-tank International Crisis Group described the government as being on "life support". | ||
| ||
Source: Agencies |
blog archive
Saturday 5 March 2011
AU troops killed in Somalia clashes
التسميات:
Aljazeera
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment