MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Fierce clashes erupted Tuesday near the Barsanguuni area on the outskirts of the coastal town of Kismayo, as Somalia’s national army, backed by forces from the Jubaland regional administration, battled Al-Shabaab militants in a contested stretch of farmland.
In a statement, Somalia’s Ministry of Defense said that U.S.-trained Danab special forces conducted an operation in the area alongside Jubaland troops, killing 14 militants and wounding another.
Al-Shabaab, however, offered a sharply different account. Speaking on the group’s Andalus Radio, its military spokesman, Abu Musab, said the militants ambushed Danab commandos accompanied by United States troops who, he asserted, were carrying out an operation near Barsanguuni and firing mortars on areas populated by civilians. He claimed that Al-Shabaab fighters killed 32 Danab soldiers, including seven officers, and seized five vehicles, among them gun-mounted military trucks.
The group also released images it said showed the captured vehicles, some loaded with mortar rounds and other weapons. Additional photographs appeared to depict a downed reconnaissance drone that Al-Shabaab claimed had been used by Somali forces during the operation.
There has been no independent confirmation of the competing claims. The remote location of the fighting has made verification difficult.
The clash comes as Somali forces and their international partners have stepped up operations against Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia. Those attacks largely consist of rapid raid-and-withdraw maneuvers, many of them concentrated along the Jubaland front.
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