The Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab released a video showing its members killing African Union soldiers…
The Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab released a video showing its members killing African Union soldiers during an attack on their base in Somalia in September.
The video, reported Tuesday by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi activities, shows armed fighters rampaging through what looks like a camp for Ugandan troops, who form part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
Al-Shabab says it killed more than 50 Ugandan troops in the attack on a base for peacekeepers in the town of Janale. Ugandan officials have reported only 19 deaths.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said after the attack that al-Shabab may have taken some prisoners and blamed commanders for being “asleep” when the attack happened. Some Ugandan commanders have since been suspended and face a military court martial back home.
The video produced by al-Shabab shows an alleged Ugandan prisoner in handcuffs and other soldiers being shot at close range with an AK-47 rifle. In one scene, an al-Shabab fighter approaches an apparently wounded soldier and shoots him in the head. The video is replete with pictures of dead soldiers with head wounds.
Although al-Shabab was pushed out of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in 2011, the group still carries out lethal attacks, especially suicide bombings, there and elsewhere in Somalia. The al-Qaida-linked group has also mounted attacks in neighboring Kenya, which also has troops in Somali under the African Union banner.
