AMISOM warns of impending attacks by Al Shabaab militants in Somalia

The African Union force in Somalia has issued a warning saying it has information that Al Shabaab militants are planning to launch attacks disguised as AMISOM forces.

According to the force, Al-Shabaab fighters plan to dress in AMISOM uniforms and carry out atrocities in parts of Somalia controlled by the AU force and Somalia’s federal government.

Planned atrocities are in areas generally controlled by FGS & AMISOM in order to turn the people against AMISOM by depicting it as the enemy

— AMISOM (@amisomsomalia) February 10, 2016

“These uniforms were accessed from AMISOM camps in the past and disguised as such, AS (Al Shabaab) are organising to carry out atrocities,” the force said on its Twitter account.

In January, the Al Shabaab militia launched an early morning attack on an AMISOM base in the town of El-Adde, near the Ethiopian border. More than 100 Kenyan soldiers were killed in the dawn attacked,according to a statement released by the militia.

The AU backed force has been in Somalia since 2007. The multinational force has 22,000 soilders made up of troops from across east and central Africa.

Al-Shabaab has been driven out of major strongholds in Somalia in recent years in a joint offensive by AMISOM and local forces.

However, it is still believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters who regularly launch guerrilla-style assaults and bomb attacks to drive out foreign troops and impose its harsh version of Islamic law across the Horn of Africa nation.