Somalia: Government soldiers, 7 Militants killed in clashes in Barawe

BARAWE, Somalia- At least 12 people, including five Somali soldiers, were killed in an overnight attack by Al Shabaab forces on army barracks in the southern port town of Barawe, Garowe Online reports.

Col Abdirahman Elmi Osman, a military officer, told GO that heavily armed Al Shabaab militants in battle wagons attacked the town from the coast side, sparking hours-long close-quarters gun battle in which seven militants were killed, along with the five government soldiers.

"Somali government troops managed to resist and push back the militants from Barawe and its surrounding suburbs following a deadly mid-night gunfight that raged on for two hours," Osman said.

He added the attack began after dozens of Al Shabaab fighters armed with machine guns, grenades and RPGs sneaked into town after walking along the beach midnight then fired upon military defense lines.

Local residents and security sources confirmed that more than seven Al Shabaab fighters, including a Tanzanian Jihadist were killed in Barawe raid.

For their part, Al shabaab has claimed via it mouthpiece Radio Andalus killing at least 15 Somali soldiers, and destroying 3 battle-wagons in the assault. The group is known to exaggerate deaths in its attacks.

African peacekeeping troops and Somali forces recaptured the lucrative port town of Barawe from Al Shabaab in mid 2014 following a joint military operation code-named "Operation Indian Ocean."

Al Shabaab is aiming to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out the 22,000 African peacekeeping forces made up of soldiers from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia nations.

GAROWEONLINE