Somalia Islamists Target large African Union Base in Mogadishu

Somali Islamist militants said they fired mortar shells at a base used by African Union forces in the capital, Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab said in a statement to Radio Andalus, a broadcaster supporting their insurgency, that the attack on Halane camp sought to fuel panic among the African Union mission, or Amisom, and newly arrived British troops. Amisom spokesman Joe Kibet said by phone that the shells landed outside the base and caused no casualties.

The U.K.-based Press Association reported Monday that the first of as many as 70 British troops due to be deployed in 2016 had arrived in the Horn of African nation where they will give engineering, medical and logistics support to Amisom.

Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group, has waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006. While the group has lost ground since being driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by government and African Union forces, it continues to stage deadly gun and bomb attacks.

Sources:  Bloomberg