MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Four Somali special forces soldiers were killed and an American officer was seriously wounded in a car bomb attack on Monday outside a military base in southern Somalia, regional officials said on Monday.
The Al-Qaeda-linked armed group Al-Shabaab said it was behind the attack in Jana Abdalla village, claiming to have killed 4 American soldiers and 16 US-trained Somali special forces members.
Somali officials told media on Monday that the suicide car bomb had exploded outside a joint US-Somali special forces base in Jana Abdalle, about 60km away from the port city of Kismayo, which is also the administrative capital of Jubaland state.
US Africa Command spokesman Air Force Colonel Christopher Karns said one US soldier had suffered non-life threatening injuries and was in stable condition.
In a statement, Karns said the US military had assessed that at least one Al-Shabaab fighter was killed during the attack, which also involved indirect fire.
“We attacked U.S. and Somali forces called Danab in Jana Abdalle village with a suicide car bomb. We killed four U.S. officers, and 16 Somali forces that they trained,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, said in a statement.
“We also wounded 12 Somali soldiers and destroyed 3 U.S. armored vehicles.
Mohamed Abdulle, a local security official, told the AFP news agency the vehicle was fired upon but unable to be stopped.
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