With a large-scale attack on an African Union peacekeeping camp in Somalia, the al-Shabab militia has underscored the threat it still poses to the stability of the East African country.

The Burundian military announced on Wednesday that ten soldiers were killed in the jihadist attack on the military base near El-Baraf.

25 other soldiers were injured.

Other reports spoke of several dozen fatalities, including civilians.

The Al-Shabab militia itself said that more than 170 soldiers were killed in the attack on the camp, which was about 150 kilometers north of the capital Mogadishu, which began on Tuesday morning.

Christian Meier

Political correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.

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The jihadists have been fighting the government of the crisis-ridden state on the Horn of Africa for many years.

While for a long time it focused primarily on larger attacks on state institutions, in recent months the group has increasingly sent out individual assassins who blow themselves up at selected targets.

In doing so, they are attempting not least to sabotage the ongoing process to determine a new leadership.

At the end of March, 48 people were killed in such an attack in the town of Beledweyne, including a well-known member of parliament;

more than a hundred others were injured.

Shortly before, two al-Shabab fighters had attacked the airport, also to disrupt the election process.

Shortly afterwards there was a mortar attack on the Parliament building.

Financially, Al-Shabab is well equipped

According to experts, al-Shabab is stronger than it has been in years.

The number of fighters is estimated at 5,000 to 10,000.

The group allied with al-Qaeda is well equipped financially.

Among other things, they make money from extortion, but also from collecting taxes in the areas under their control, especially in central and southern Somalia.

In 2021, their earnings are said to have been $180 million.

On the one hand, the militia benefits from the fact that the – already complicated – election process is marked by considerable chaos.

It was supposed to start as early as late 2020 but was delayed until November 2021, partly because of a power struggle between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.

Most recently, at the end of April, Roble even asked the African Union peacekeepers to secure a session of the newly elected lower house.

On the other hand, the United States practically ended its military mission in Somalia in early 2021 following a decision by then-President Donald Trump.

Under his successor Joe Biden, the number of drone attacks on al-Shabab continued to decrease.

So there is concern in the US military that the group, dubbed "al Qaeda's deadliest arm,"