MOGADISHU - A military base in Somalia came under attack by Al-Shabaab jihadists on Wednesday,police and witnesses said, just as the African Union announced it was beginning a drawdown of troops in the violence-wracked nation.
"The first explosion which is presumed to have been carried by a suicide bomber targeted the entrance of the ADC military base in Baardhere where Ethiopian forces are stationed and train Somali troops," local police officer Abdi Bare said. Less than four weeks ago, 54 Ugandan peacekeepers were killed when Al-Shabaab fighters stormed an AU base located southwest of Mogadishu in one of the deadliest attacks since the offensive was launched last year.
Somalia's army and police are set to assume full security by the end of 2024, 17 years after the AU force was created by the UN Security Council to help in the fight against Al-Shabaab.ATMIS in April last year replaced the previous mission known as AMISOM, which had a force of about 20,000 drawn from several nations including Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office in May last year and pledged "all-out" war against the jihadists who were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 but remain entrenched in areas of south and central Somalia.
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