Dozens of al-Shabab militants have been killed in new clashes in the southern Jubaland state, officials said.
The clashes followed three separate coordinated attacks the militants carried out on military bases manned by federal and regional forces in the west and south of Kismayo town.
The militants have attacked Bulo Haji, Harbole, and Mido, all of which were seized from al-Shabab since last month. The militants also fired on a fourth base at Bar Sanguni in an apparent attempt to disrupt possible reinforcement to the bases under attack.
Spokesperson for the Jubaland regional forces Major Mohamed Farah Dahir told VOA Somali that 135 militants were killed in the attacks.
“Overall, we killed 135, confirmed,” he said.
“We have also seized weapons from their dead. ... I have never seen such a large number of deaths in my life in one spot.”
He said at least six militants were captured alive. He also said that the biggest casualty event occurred in Bulo Haji.
But the federal government, which has soldiers deployed in the bases that came under attack, has given a different casualty figure. In a prepared statement, the federal Ministry of Information claimed that all the attacks were repelled and over 80 militants were killed.
Purported video clips and pictures published by social media accounts show dozens of dead bodies.
Al-Shabab claimed their militants overran the bases and said that more than 70 soldiers were killed in their attacks.
The video clips and casualty figures given by both sides have not been independently verified by VOA.
Al-Shabab has been fighting to oust Somalia’s central government in Mogadishu for nearly two decades.
The government has joined forces with local clan militias to fight the Islamist militants in an ongoing campaign supported by African Union forces and U.S. airstrikes.
Meanwhile, the Somali government has awarded a medal of honor to a prison guard who was shot dead after he refused to give the keys to militant inmates during an attempted jail break at Mogadishu’s central prison on July 13.
Private Hassan Hussein Rage, 28, refused to give up the keys despite the threat to his life from the one of the militant inmates who was carrying a pistol, according to Colonel Abdiqani Mohamed Khalaf, spokesperson for Somali’s Custodial Corps, a branch of the security forces responsible for operating prisons in the country.
“He was keeping the keys at the center of the prison, when the bandit carrying the pistol ordered him to put it down, the key,” he said.
“The guard threw the keys to guards at a high observation post and was fatally shot.”
He said the other prison guards collected the keys; and shot and killed the inmate.
Khalaf said the inmate intended to open all the gates and free the other prisoners.
Five militants and four prison guards were killed in the incident. Four of the five militant inmates were on death row and the fifth inmate was serving a life sentence.
The Somali government suspended the head of the prison after the attempted jailbreak and appointed an eight-member committee to investigate the incident.
Adan Mohamed Salad contributed to this report.
