Al-Shabab claims killing 43 soldiers at Ethiopian base

(Aljazeera)-Somali rebel group al-Shabab said it has killed 43 soldiers in an attack on a base of Ethiopian troops serving with the African Union’s AMISOM force in the Horn of Africa nation.
“Our fighters stormed the Halgan base of AMISOM … We killed 43 AU soldiers from Ethiopia in the fighting,” al-Shabab’s military operations spokesperson Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters news agency after Thursday’s attack, adding “several” of its fighters had also been killed without giving a figure.
“It was a huge blast. It destroyed the gate and parts of the base,” he added.
The base at Halgan town lies in a region of central Somalia about 300km north of the capital Mogadishu.
An AMISOM spokesperson had no immediate comment. Residents said they heard a huge explosion at the base and a heavy exchange of gunfire shortly before dawn.
The group often launches gun and bomb attacks on officials, Somali security forces and AMISOM in an effort to topple the Western-backed government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia.