Officials in Somalia have said that Al Shabab militants have killed African Union 32 soldiers around the Somalia-Ethiopia border.

Fighting was said to have erupted between the international backed African Union forces and fighters of Al Shabab in the southern Bakol region on Tuesday.

Local media quoted residents as saying that there were prolonged hours of gun fire between the militants and the AU troops.

This latest killing of troops of the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) comes as Al Shabab over the weekend stormed the parliament house in the capital, Mogadishu and killed 10 people.

That attack started with a car bomb at a gate to the heavily fortified parliament compound, followed by a suicide bombing and then a gun battle that continued for hours. All the 10 dead were said to be from the African Union troops. Four parliamentarians were also injured.

But Tuesday’s attack happened in the remote southern town of Atol in the Bokol region. The governor of the Bakol region, Mohamed Abdi told reporters that the battle started after fighters of Al Shabab ambushed the African Union forces in the town of Ato, area of the Ethiopian-Somalia border.

He said they opened fire amid firing Rocket Propelled Grenade, taking the soldiers by surprise thereby resulting in the death of 32 of them and dozen others left injured.

“The extremist groups tried to attack the town but our forces resisted them but suffered heavy casualties, 32 of them were killed’’, the governor told local media.

But a spokesman for al Shabaab, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab was quoted as saying that its fighters had killed more troops in the attack than the figure given by the government.

“We have killed more troops from the African Union than the figure the so-called Somali government has put out’’, he said, failing to give an exact figure.

Somalia government forces backed by the African Union Forces (AMISOM) have been battling against the Al Qaeda-inspired group of Al Shabab in the south and central regions of Somalia.

The African Union forces have been able to take at least 10 towns from the militants since it began operation but many independent observer groups have said that the forces need to be strengthen furthers as Al Shabab fighters have stepped up their attacks both in Somalia and neighboring countries.

Al Shabab fighters have staged many attacks in Kenya this year and the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta has said that Kenya’s tourism sector is gradually declining because of recent attacks by Al Shabaab.

Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab, saying it threatened regional stability but the troops were later incorporated into an African Union force which now numbers about 18,000.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

Writer’s Email Address: Adamsisska@googlemail.com

[adrotate group=”15″]