At least 54 soldiers were killed in the May 26 attack in Somalia on an African Union (AU) base held by Ugandan soldiers, according to an initial assessment announced by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. "We found the bodies of 54 soldiers, including a commander," Museveni said in a statement posted Saturday night on his official Twitter account.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated radical Islamist Shebab claimed responsibility for the dawn attack in Bulo Marer, 120km southwest of the capital Mogadishu, with a car bomb and suicide bombers and followed by clashes with automatic weapons.
This is the first death toll announced for the attack, and one of the deadliest since the AU-backed Somali government (Atmis) launched an offensive in August. Neither Attracted nor Mogadishu have put forward a figure.
See alsoSomalia: attack of the Shebab against a military base of the African Union
Two days after the attack, Museveni offered his condolences to the families of the soldiers killed, implicitly conceding the presence of victims, and added that "all the facts" would be "made public".
Faced with an attack carried out by "800 terrorists", "some of the soldiers did not react as expected and panicked, which disorganized them and al-Shabaab took advantage of it to invade the base and destroy some of the equipment," Museveni added.
A Somali army commander had reported "heavy fighting" before al-Shabaab retreated. The attack was condemned by the United States and the European Union.
Al-Shabaab has been fighting the internationally backed Somali government for more than fifteen years to establish Islamic law in this Horn of Africa country.
To counter this insurgency, the African Union deployed in 2007 a force composed of soldiers and police from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, called AMISOM and authorized by the UN Security Council.
Atmis took over from AMISOM in April 2022 with the aim of handing over full responsibility for the country's security to Somali forces by the end of 2024.
Driven out of major cities in 2011-2012, al-Shabaab remains firmly entrenched in large rural areas, from where it continues to carry out attacks against security and civilian targets.
