The Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabab attacked a Kenyan military base in southern Somalia early Friday. So far, they claimed to have killed about 50 military personnel, in addition to capturing vehicles and weapons.
However, a spokesman for the Kenyan militia said the attack managed to be countered: the base failed to be controlled and during the defensive several rebels were killed. But according to AFP news agency, Al-Shabab says they have control over the base and surrounding areas.
One of the militants' favorite targets is the Kenyan military corps installed in Somalia: last year, they carried out a similar attack on a base in the southern town of El-Adde. The confrontation ended up being one of the largest military massacres in Kenya's history, an absolute defeat for the Defense Force in Kenya.
Kenya has sent more than 3,600 troops to support the government of Somalia and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), a UN-backed mission to Forces of the Federal Government to win the battle against Al-Shabab.
Al Shabab (meaning "youth"), originally from Somalia, has become one of the most active and powerful jihadist organizations, Somalia's main public enemy, but above all Kenya, east Africa.
In their desperate attempt to establish an absolute and immovably Islamic region ruled by the Sharia (law evoking all the commandments dictated by Allah), have used terror and violence as major weapons: massacres, public executions, crowding stonings.
The BBC explains that the first records of the group's existence date back to 2006, when they broke away from the Islamic Council of Somali Courts and took control of almost all of the southern part and have since captured more territory.
Their predilection for weakening the armed forces of both Somalia and Kenya has the objective of completely eliminating the government currently in control to establish its own State, based exclusively on Islam and on the bellicose laws that can be derived from he.
One of the most remembered massacres they have committed happened in 2015, when they attacked the Campus of the University of Garissa, northwest of Kenya and in which 150 people died.
sources:
http://culturacolectiva.com/al-shabab-ataca-base-militar-kenia-somalia/