Somalia: fear of a heavy death toll after the attack on an African Union base
A contingent of Burundian soldiers stationed in Somalia under the command of Amisom, in Mogadishu on July 11, 2017 (photo illustration).
© AFP / Mohamed Abdiwahad
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
A base of the African Union's transition mission in Somalia, the Atmis, was the target of a major jihadist attack on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Although no official report has been communicated, it is of a large-scale operation similar to the one that destroyed the Amisom base in el-Adde, in the south of the country, in 2016.
Both attacks used the same modus operandi.
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According to diplomatic and military sources, Tuesday at dawn, around 4 a.m., two suicide bombers were first launched against the entry
point of the el-Baraf military base
.
Taking advantage of the breach opened by the explosions, several hundred ambushed jihadist fighters then rushed into the camp.
The Burundian soldiers resisted, before abandoning the base, carrying their wounded.
The toll is very heavy, according to the same sources, at least 45 soldiers were killed, including a colonel.
El-Baraf was an “outpost operational post” held by Burundian troops from Atmis, isolated in the countryside, at the crossroads of the roads linking the north and the center of the country.
This attack is the deadliest against international troops in Somalia
since the battle of el-Adde
on January 15, 2016, during which several dozen Kenyan soldiers were killed.
Rarely, Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye reacted on Twitter.
"
There are no words strong enough to condemn the terrorist attack against the Burundian contingent of Atmis
," he wrote.
I join with all of Africa which has just lost sons and daughters fallen on the field of honor to console the hard-hit families
.
»
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Somalia
Burundi
African Union