[RADIOSHABELLE] At least 13 Somali troops have died after the army attacked bully boy group al-Shabaab
 ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
in jungle and farms near the district of Afgoye northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, a military official said.Al-Shabaab has battled since 2008 to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-recognized central government and establish its rule, based on its own interpretation of Islamic law.
"We left Afgoye district and attacked al-Shabaab in the farms outside Afgoye," Major Mohammed Ali told Rooters, describing Wednesday’s incident in the district about 30 km (19 miles) from Mogadishu.
"We killed four bandidos bully boyz and chased al-Shabaab," Ali said late on Wednesday. "Most of the military came back and we left two dozen soldiers there. Then, this evening, al-Shabaab attacked our few soldiers and killed 13."
Al-Shabaab, which launches regular attacks in a bid to undermine Somalia’s central government, which is backed by the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
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...
peacekeeping troops, grabbed credit.
"We killed 24 soldiers and the rest escaped and bravely ran away," said Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military operations front man.
Somalia’s government and al-Shabaab often give differing figures of casualties after attacks.
Deadly violence has engulfed Somalia since 1991, when clan warlords deposed leader Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
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