One dead as al Shabaab militants overrun Somalia military base

Militants from the Islamist group al Shabaab attacked a Somalia military base southwest of the capital Mogadishu on Sunday night, killing at least one person and seizing vehicles and other equipment, the government and the militants said.

“The militants were so many, and well armed. The soldiers fled the base – only one soldier died – but al Shabaab militants took nine vehicles,” a military officer Abdullahi told Reuters on Monday.

The attack on the base in Laanta Buuro, about 45 km from the capital, came shortly after African Union troops from Kenya said they had killed 34 al Shabaab militants in two separate incidents on Saturday and Sunday.

Somalia’s government is battling to rebuild the Horn of Africa nation after more than two decades of conflict. Al Shabaab, which aims to topple the Western-backed government, ruled large parts of Somalia until 2011, when it was driven out of Mogadishu by African Union and Somali troops.