Al Shabaab militant group has claimed to have killed 121 US soldiers, over a dozen #Israeli forces, destroyed 5 military aircraft including drone & helicopters in yesterday’s complex attack on Balidogle airbase Somalia.
In an official statement, AlShabaab claims its elite unit of soldiers from stormed the Ballidoogle Airbase, the largest U.S. military base in Somalia, killing more than 121 U.S soldiers and more than a dozen Israeli forces. Another 40 contractors employed by the US forces for the construction and maintenance of the airbase were also killed in the attack according to media organizations affiliated to the group.
The group also claim that at least five military aircraft were destroyed in the attack, including drones and helicopters.
Al Shabab’s official radio broadcasting station which they have for many years used as their official communication broadcasted that militants penetrated into the perimeters of the heavily fortified base and penetrating it with explosive-laden vehicles that pulverized the buildings.
Ballidoogle Airbase is home to hundreds of U.S. soldiers, UN personnel and private military contractors. It is also home to the U.S. drone program in Somalia and a fleet of aircraft employed by U.S. forces to carry out special operations and night raids against Alshabaab and other militants groups in the wartone country.
In a press statement from the group’s media wing Al Kataib, Al Shabaab claimed the attack is in response to the indiscriminate aerial bombardment by the U.S. forces against the innocent civilians of Somalia. It also said it sends message to the bumbling Trump administration and the American public that their aggressive foreign policy against the Muslims of Somalia bears deadly consequences and that as they sow, so shall they reap.
Al-Shabab was ejected from Mogadishu in 2011 and has since been driven from most of its other strongholds. However, it still carries out frequent attacks across Somalia, as well as in Kenya, whose soldiers form part of the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force that helps defend Somalia’s central government.
By Hussein Jama
October 3, 2019
