DJIBOUTI, (Xinhua) — Djibouti has confirmed that five soldiers from the Red Sea country were killed in a recent attack in Somalia, where Al-Qaida linked terrorists launched two attacks on the targets of government and the African Union (AU) mission this week.

One attack was launched Monday night targeting Djiboutian soldiers deployed in central Somalia under the auspices of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Five of the soldiers died and seven others were injured.

The Djibouti News Agency (ADI) made the confirmation Tuesday, citing the AMISOM chief, Gen. Osman Nour Soubagleh.

This was the heaviest loss for the Djiboutian contingent since its deployment in Somalia in 2011.

The AMISOM chief said after the attack, the Djiboutian soldiers, their AMISOM allies as well as Somalia forces repulsed the assailants who suffered heavy casualties.

“The injured were airlifted to a hospital in Nairobi, before some of them who needed specialized medical attention were transferred to South Africa,” he added.

Soubagleh said Al-Shabaab terrorists were attempting to recapture Bulo-Burde town, after losing it last week to Somali forces and their AMISOM counterparts.

Situated 210 km from the capital Mogadishu, Bulo-Berde was for the last five years occupied by Al-Shabaab terrorists, who made it one of their key bases. The town has a strategic bridge that links different regions of the Horn of Africa country.

In 2011, Djibouti sent 1,000 troops to Somalia’s central town of Beledewyne under the auspices of AMISOM. The country is to send the second contingent to this country that has been ravaged by war for over two decades.

Source: Xinhua