Al-Shabab claims killing dozens of Kenyan troops in raid on base

A spokesman for al Shabab, which often launches attacks on troops of the African Union's AMISOM force, said its fighters killed at least 66 Kenyans at the base in the southern town of Kulbiyow, near the Kenyan border. Al Shabab said it lost fighters but did not give numbers.

Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu-Musab said the extremist fighters seized military vehicles during the early morning attack in Kulbiyow, a town in Lower Jubba region.

But Kenya denied it, saying "scores" of the extremist fighters were killed instead while repelling the assault. Kenyan military spokesman P.M. Njuguna said in a statement that the "rumors" being spread by al-Shabab were false. Kenyan soldiers with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia "fiercely engaged" the Al-Shabab fighters who tried to penetrate the base with an explosives-laden vehicle, Njuguna said. In a statement, he said Al-Shabaab attackers used a vehicle packed with explosives to try to blast their way into the camp of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF). "KDF soldiers repulsed the terrorists, killing scores," he said.

Thousands of the AU troops are in Somalia to bolster the country's weak government, while al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks like this week's assault on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, that killed at least 26.

Earlier this month, the AU's Peace and Security Council decided to ask the U.N. Security Council to authorize a six-month "surge" of 4,500 troops to expand offensive operations.

In February 2016, Kenya tried to downplay a similar al-Shabab attack that Somalia's president said killed at least 180 Kenyan soldiers. Kenya's military spokesman denied the figure but refused to give an official death toll. That attack was considered the bloodiest by al-Shabab militants to date.

Somalia's security forces are supposed to be taking on more responsibility as the AU force prepares to withdraw by the end of 2020. But concerns remain high about the country's security, and the ongoing al-Shabab attacks in the capital and elsewhere have contributed to several delays in Somalia's upcoming presidential elections, a key step in the country's recovery.

AU and Somali troops have driven its fighters from major urban strongholds and ports, including the capital Mogadishu in 2011, but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.