Somali president lauds the victory AMISOM and SNA troops in Halgan village

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has applauded the quick response and bravery of the AMISOM troops and SNA soldiers in quelling the reprehensible attack on Halgan village carried out by Al-Shabaab fighters on Thursday morning.

“On behalf of the Somali Federal Government, I welcome the victory of our forces and Ethiopian troops who taught Al-Shabaab a lesson. The defeat of Al-Shabaab indicates that the terrorists can be defeated while inflicting heavy blows” said Mohamud in a press statement.

On Thursday, Al-Shabaab and African Union’s AMISOM forces and Somali government have each claimed to have killed large numbers of the other side’s combatants in a gun battle in central Somalia.

The AMISOM force fighting in Somalia said its troops repelled an attack on one of its bases by Al-Shabaab and killed 110 fighters. “AMISOM forces killed 110 Al-Shabaab and captured a large cache of weapons,” AMISOM spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Joe Kibet told Reuters, adding that a claim by Al-Shabaab that it had killed AU soldiers was a “falsehood”.

Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesperson, told Reuters that “several” Al-Shabaab fighters had died in the raid but he did not give a figure.

African Union peacekeepers killed about 240 al-Qaeda-linked militants in clashes at an Ethiopian military base in central Somalia on Thursday, Security Minister Abdirisaq Omar said.