Three Americans were killed and two others wounded in an attack by the Somali Mujahideen Movement on a military base used by American forces in eastern Kenya. The operation also resulted in the destruction of aircraft and military vehicles.
The US military announced the killing of a soldier and two contractors with the Pentagon in the attack carried out yesterday by al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militants on the "Manda Bay" or "Simba" air base used by the American anti-terrorist forces, in addition to Kenyan forces.
The attack began in the morning and lasted for hours, amid conflicting statements about whether the attackers managed to storm the base, which is located in the Lamu region, on the border with Somalia.
But the US Forces in Africa (AFRICOM) Command said that the attackers were repelled after they infiltrated the area around the base, noting that they had used indirect fire, in reference to the bombing of the base with mortars or missiles.
During the attack, there were 150 US soldiers at the base providing training and support in counter-terrorism to forces from eastern African countries, according to an AFRICOM official.
The Mujahideen Youth Movement issued a statement in which it spoke of the deaths of 17 American soldiers and nine Kenyan soldiers, while a Kenyan military spokesman confirmed the attack was frustrated, and pointed out the killing of five of the perpetrators of the attack.
She also spoke of the destruction of seven planes and three military vehicles, and published pictures of masked gunmen standing next to a plane that was on fire.
In another statement, the movement stated that the clashes at al-Qaeda lasted ten hours, and mocked the "failure of the United States to prevent an attack by a handful of Muslims of solid will."
According to a Kenyan police report seen by Reuters, the attack resulted in the destruction of four planes, including two helicopters and several US military vehicles, while AFRICOM said that six planes used by US contractors suffered varying damage.
And the attack is the first launched by Al-Shabaab against the American forces in Kenya, and the movement attacked the end of last September the American military base Bijdli, a hundred kilometers south of Mogadishu.
The attack, which was carried out by Al-Shabab, comes despite repeated targeting by the US Air Force inside Somalia.