... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
holy warriors say they have killed 13 people in festivities with the Somali government and African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
(AU) troops in the central Hiran region.
Al-Shabaab front man Abdulaziz Abu Musab said on Saturday that the deaths occurred after the group's holy warriors attacked a base of the AU force in the town of Buloburde, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu.
He further said nine soldiers with the AU, four of their Somali counterparts, as well as five al-Shabaab holy warriors were killed in the fighting which started around midnight Friday.
The government said six al-Shabaab holy warriors had been killed, but gave no figures of any casualties on their side.
"Our fighters went into the camp, ... where the killing took place," Musab added.
Troops from the AU force captured Buloburde from the group earlier in the year, but the holy warriors control large parts of the rural area surrounding the town.
The development comes as the al-Shabaab continues launching assaults in Mogadishu. On July 8, al-Shabaab holy warriors attacked the presidential palace. Several people were killed during the raid.