Al-Shabaab overruns Kenyan military base in Somalia

Mogadishu, Jan 27 (IANS) Militant group Al-Shabaab on Friday attacked and overran a military camp manned by Kenyan soldiers under the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) in a small town near the Kenya-Somalia border.

Residents in the remote town of Kulbiyow said casualties were feared after explosions and gunfire broke out between the military and militants, Xinhua news agency reported.

Neither of Kenyan or Somalian military have confirmed the number of casualties yet, but residents said the attack was deadly.

The residents said the militants were seen moving weapons and military vehicles out of the devastated base.

According to reports, several bodies in Kenyan military uniforms could be seen at the scene.

The Kenyan military said it sent reinforcements which was able to destroy two vehicles loaded with IEDs within the vicinity of their Forward Operating Base in Kulbiyow, near the border.

The attack came a year after the Al Qaeda-allied terrorist group killed an unknown number of soldiers at a Kenyan Defence Forces base in Gedo region.

Al-Shabaab later claimed responsibility for the January 15, 2016 attack saying it had taken over the base and killed more than 63 soldiers.

It has vowed more reprisal attacks in the neighbouring country, mainly targeting security forces in border towns of northern Kenya.

The group, which has also teamed up with the Islamic State, has vowed an all-out war in Kenya, in retaliation against its military incursion "against our brothers in Somalia".