Shabaab video raises questions over AMISOM's base defence

Monday April 18, 2016

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A video released by the Somali militant group Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen on 9 April depicting an attack on an African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) base suggests the Kenyan defenders were well-armed yet put up little resistance.

The 48-minute high-resolution video showed militants overrunning the AMISOM base at El-Adde (Ceel Cadde) on 15 January. The Kenyan authorities have acknowledged the attack took place, but have refused to disclose how many soldiers were killed or captured. A spokesman for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has dismissed claims that nearly 200 died.

The Shabaab video gave no precise death toll, but showed many dead Kenyan soldiers, saying more than 100 had been killed. Six soldiers - several of them clearly seriously wounded - were captured and interviewed for the video. The Shabaab said some of the captives subsequently succumbed to their injuries.

The video appeared to show that the defending force, which was largely drawn from the 9th Battalion Kenya Rifles, was heavily armed. A cache of weapons it showed as having been captured in the battle included 10 mortars (two 120 mm, three 81 mm, and five 60 mm calibre), three 12.7 mm DShK heavy machine guns, at least 12 general-purpose and light machine guns (five FN MAG, four PK-series, two IWI Negev, and one 7.62 mm BREN), at least four RPG-7 rocket launchers, two 84 mm Carl Gustav recoilless rifles, and dozens of G3 and M4 small arms.

All these weapons are known to be in KDF service. While the Shabaab fighters may have added some of their own weapons to this stockpile, they would have found it difficult to obtain the European-, US-, and Israeli-made ones from other sources.

The Kenyan infantry was supported by armoured vehicles, including at least two AML-60/90 armoured cars, a WZ551 armoured personnel carrier, and an M26 Puma mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle (MRAP).

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