Al-Shabab, Kenya claim dozens of deaths in Somalia attack
MOGADISHU- A spokesman for extremist group al-Shabab said Friday its fighters killed at least 51 Kenyan soldiers in an attack on a military base in Somalia. But Kenya denied it, saying "scores" of the extremist fighters were killed instead when its soldiers repelled the assault.
Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu-Musab said the extremists seized military vehicles during the early morning attack in Kulbiyow town in Lower Jubba region.
But Kenyan military spokesman P.M. Njuguna said in a statement that the "rumors" being spread by al-Shabab were false. Kenyan soldiers with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia "fiercely engaged" the al-Shabab fighters who tried to penetrate the base with an explosives-laden vehicle, Njuguna said.
A Somali military officer, Col. Ahmed Ali, said al-Shabab's massive suicide car bomb allowed dozens of extremists with machine guns to overrun the Kenyan camp, torching tents and arms depots.
