About 43 soldiers killed in al-Shabab attack on Ethiopia base in Somalia
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The file photo shows members of Somalia’s al-Qaeda inspired al-Shabab militant group at a village in Lower Shabelle region, in the country's south.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab terrorists in Somalia have killed at least 43 soldiers in an attack on a base used by Ethiopian troops north of the capital, Mogadishu.
According to the reports, the fatalities came early Thursday when the Takfiri group detonated a car bomb at the base for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in the town of Halgan, about 300 km north of Mogadishu.
Local residents said they heard a huge explosion at the base and a heavy exchange of gunfire shortly before dawn.
An al-Shabab spokesman said 43 African Union soldiers from Ethiopia were killed in the fighting, adding several militants also lost their lives.
The deadly assault is the first such attack on an Ethiopian army base since militants began targeting foreign soldiers deployed in the Horn of Africa state.
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