10 dead after militants attack base in Somalia

Julius Karangi, Kenyan (CDF) Chief of the Defense Force, left and Defence Minister Yusuf Haji right  speaking to  Journalist at a military press briefing in Nairobi. Kenya .Saturday. Oct.29. 2011. The chief of Kenya's armed forces says Kenyan troops will stay in southern Somalia until Kenyans feel safe again.Gen. Julius Karangi told reporters Saturday that there was no 'timeline' for the Kenyan operation to end. Kenya sent troops into Somalia earlier this month after a string of cross-border attacks and kidnappings.(AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
Julius Karangi, Kenyan (CDF) Chief of the Defense Force, left and Defence Minister Yusuf Haji right speaking to Journalist at a military press briefing in Nairobi. Kenya .Saturday. Oct.29. 2011. The chief of Kenya's armed forces says Kenyan troops will stay in southern Somalia until Kenyans feel safe again.Gen. Julius Karangi told reporters Saturday that there was no 'timeline' for the Kenyan operation to end. Kenya sent troops into Somalia earlier this month after a string of cross-border attacks and kidnappings.(AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)

— A team of suicide bombers and gunmen disguised as soldiers assaulted an African Union base in the Somali capital Saturday, sparking a two-hour gunfight that left at least 10 people dead, security officials said. The al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group that claimed the attack said one of the bombers was Somali-American.

African Union troops have recently forced the militants from most of Mogadishu, and a famine in their strongholds has weakened their forces. But earlier this month, Kenya sent troops into Somalia after a string of cross-border attacks and kidnappings blamed on Somali gunmen and militants battling Somalia’s weak, U.N.-backed government.

During Saturday’s attack, the two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the entrance to the compound, then more armed attackers jumped over the walls, a Nairobi-based security official said. He asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The true extent of casualties from the assault was unclear, although a Somali soldier, Col. Nor Abdi, said at least 10 people were killed.

“They were dressed in Somali military uniform and disguised as ordinary soldiers,” Abdi said. “Then they tried to enter the base and [African Union] soldiers fired at them.Then heavy gunfire started and all of them were killed. I don’t know how many they were, but they were more than 10 men.”

In a claim posted on Somalimemo.net, a website it frequently uses, al-Shabab militants said one of the bombers was a Somali-American and claimed he was the secondSomali-American involved in a suicide attack in Mogadishu within five months. They did not name the bomber or offer further details, and the claim could not immediately be independently verified.

U.S. authorities have said about 20 American citizens, most of Somali descent, have traveled to Somalia to fight with the al-Shabab insurgents. The most well-known among them is Omar Hammami from Alabama, known as Abu Mansur al-Amriki, who posts Internet videos in which he raps about the conflict.

Al-Shabab claimed to have killed dozens of African Union soldiers and government troops in Saturday’s assault, but the group habitually exaggerates the number of people it kills, and an African Union statement did not mention casualty figures.

The African Union statement said its forces had “beaten off” the attack. African Union troops have been in Somalia since 2007. About 9,000 African Union soldiers are helping Somalia’s government hang on to the capital.

Meanwhile, the chief of Kenya’s armed forces, Gen. Julius Karangi, said his country does not have a time frame for leaving Somalia.

“When the Kenya government and the people of this country feel that they are safe enough from the al-Shabab menace, we shall pull back,” Karangi said. “Key success factors or indicators will be in the form of a highly degraded al-Shabab capacity.”

His statement raised questions about whether Kenya risks becoming bogged down in an open-ended occupation of its war-ravaged neighbor.Both the U.N. and Ethiopia sent forces into Somalia at different times during its 20-year-old civil war but were forced to withdraw without ending the conflict.

Karangi said Kenya has no interest in permanently occupying Somalia and is working with its government.

Front Section, Pages 11 on 10/30/2011

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