Al-Shabaab raids Somalia's largest African Union base
Somalia's militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab raided the country's largest military base for African Union troops on Thursday, detonating a car bomb at the entrance before engaging in a firefight with troops, a spokesman for the group said, according to CNN.
A spokesman for the African Union forces, Col. Ali Aden Houmed, confirmed the attack at the Halane base in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in a call with CNN, but did not elaborate.
A gun battle was under way at the compound on Thursday afternoon, al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab said on Radio Andalus, a pro-Al-Shabaab broadcaster.
"Our Mujahedeen forces detonated a car bomb at the entrance of the Halane compound ... then managed to enter the facility," Abu Musab said.
The heavily fortified Halane base in Mogadishu also houses several U.N and international agencies.