Follow up to this story from yesterday.
[Garowe] The al-Qaeda-linked group, al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...was on Tuesday morning neutralized in Jubaland, a top government official said, hours after the group had claimed running over a military Forward Operating Base in the state, killing "several" soldiers.
The faceless myrmidons raided the military Jana Cabdalle in Jubaland, in an attack that come several weeks after the local forces conquered the village, although without a significant struggle. Jubaland is mainly controlled by both 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...
Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] forces.
Mohamud Sayid Aden, the Vice President of Jubaland state, maintained that the faceless myrmidons had been repulsed by the military after they attacked a camp within the village which is approximately 60 kilometers west of Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (always assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region....
, the regional administrative capital of Jubaland.
"This morning the Khawarij (deviants) attacked Janaa Cabdalle base, a strategic base which was captured from them before," he said, using a term for al-Shabaab murderous Moslems.
"As is the hallmark for their attacks they used a series of explosives and suicide kaboom, but the Somali troops defended the base," he added.
He said Tuesday’s al-Shabaab attack "failed" as government troops fought off the murderous Moslems. Aden said barriers erected by the soldiers in anticipation of the al-Shabaab attack prevented explosives from penetrating the base.
According to him, five soldiers were killed in a battle that could have been after all deadly while 10 others were critically injured. "Brave men are among the dead, and as opined in a fatwa (ruling) by the religious scholars, they will be in paradise," he said.
The VP said the group had suffered the most casualties but the faceless myrmidons claimed they had killed over 89 soldiers. Abdulaziz Abu Mus’ab, the spokesperson of the group, told al-Shabaab media that 20 vehicles were seized from the government forces.
But the VP denied the claims while insisting that regional troops with the help of those from ATMIS, US Africa Command, and local militia were still in control of the strategic village. The al-Shabaab purported number of casualties cannot be independently confirmed.
"The target is their biggest base in Middle Juba, a final offensive on Jilib and Buale and the other big bases they have been occupying for a long time," he said. "Janaa Cabdalle is the closest strategic base to launch an offensive from."
The government of Somalia has been pursuing the faceless myrmidons for the last seven months and the results have been positive according to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Over 700 faceless myrmidons have been killed and their bases were taken over according to officials from Somali National Army.