MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Al-Shabab overran an African Union base in southern Somalia early Tuesday, a Somali military official said.
The attack in the town of Janale started with a suicide car bombing at the base's gate, followed by a firefight that lasted more than an hour, said Col. Ahmed Hassan.
The African Union force in Somalia, also known by the acronym AMISOM, said on Twitter that it was still in control of the base after the attack, but it later issued a statement saying the troops "undertook a tactical withdrawal" and then returned to the base.
"Given the complex nature of the attack, AMISOM is currently verifying the number of casualties and extent of the damage," the statement said.
Al-Shabab said it killed about 50 African Union troops from Uganda.
Hassan said the militants overran the base after bombing a nearby bridge to prevent troops from escaping. The bridge is a landmark that travelers often use to shuttle through south and central Somalia.
A Ugandan contingent of African Union forces was targeted in retaliation over the purported killings by Ugandan troops of six men at a wedding in the nearby Somali port town of Merka in July, al-Shabab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu Musab said on the group's online Andalus radio.
"Very few escaped," Abu Musab said, referring to the Ugandan troops. "Others swam into the river and drowned. Others might have escaped into the jungle."
Human Rights Watch has urged an investigation into the wedding killings and called on the Ugandan government to prosecute any soldiers responsible for crimes. Citing witnesses, the rights group reported that after a bomb attack on an African Union convoy, Ugandan forces entered several nearby houses in Merka. At one house, where a family was celebrating a wedding, the soldiers separated the men from the women and shot six adult men, according to Human Rights Watch.
Janale, a farming town 40 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, is under the control of African Union and government troops, but the foliage makes it easier for militants to enter the town undetected.
In June, al-Shabab fighters overran an African Union base in Lego, a small town in southern Somalia, killing dozens of soldiers and seizing arms.
Despite losing control of most of Mogadishu and other key strongholds in south and central Somalia, al-Shabab still carries out attacks in Somalia and has targeted countries, such as Uganda and Kenya, that have sent troops to fight the Islamic extremists.
Information for this article was contributed by Rodney Muhumuza of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/02/2015