'False and baseless': Ethiopia rejects al-Shabaab claim of inflicting heavy losses on its forces

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Ethiopia denied on Monday that the al-Shabaab terror group inflicted heavy casualties on Ethiopian peacekeepers in two ambushes in southwestern Somalia.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for ambushing two military convoys of Ethiopian peacekeepers from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), one on its way to the Wajid district and the other to the capital Huddur, on Sunday morning in the southwestern Somali province of Bakool, which borders Ethiopia.

Later, the terrorist group claimed to have killed 167 Ethiopian soldiers on its propaganda digital platform, which usually exaggerates such figures in its favor.

"False and baseless," said Mukhtar Mohamed Waare, the Ethiopian ambassador to Mogadishu, in response to the al-Shabaab claim during talks with local media in the Somali capital.

"They can try to attack the Ethiopian army, but they cannot engage in a fight with the Ethiopian defense forces for even 10 minutes,” the ambassador said, adding that the country’s army is highly professional, well-equipped, and organized.

Earlier on Monday, the terror group posted images on its propaganda website purporting to show the aftermath of a deadly ambush on an Ethiopian military convoy near Rabdhure.

The militant group claimed to have seized a tank, a ZU-23-mounted truck, and other captured military vehicles.

On Sunday evening, a security officer in Huddur told Anadolu on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media that Ethiopian troops, backed by Somali soldiers, killed over 55 al-Shabaab terrorists in a counterattack.

However, he declined to say how many Ethiopian soldiers were killed or injured in the two ambushes, but he did say there were heavy casualties on both sides.

Regional officials in the Bakool region told Anadolu that the terrorists attacked the convoy of Ethiopian troops shortly after they crossed the border into Somalia earlier Sunday morning.

"We don't know how many Ethiopian soldiers were killed in this massive ambush, but it has been confirmed to me that several soldiers were killed," an officer said.

Ethiopian soldiers operate under the command of the ATMIS, but Addis Ababa has a sizable contingent of non-AU troops in the Horn of Africa country.

The latest attacks come just hours after the Somali government said it killed at least 30 al-Shabab terrorists in an operation led by the national army and backed by clan militias in the central state of Galmudug.

Earlier on Friday, al-Shabaab terrorists carried out a suicide bombing on the Galmudug state president. However, two soldiers were killed, and two members of Somalia's federal parliament were injured.

Last Monday, Mohamed Mohamud, a member of the Galmudug state parliament, was killed in a bomb attack in the region.

The Horn of Africa country has been plagued by insecurity for years, with the main threats emanating from al-Shabaab and the Daesh/ISIS terror groups.

Since 2007, the al-Shabaab terror group has been fighting the Somali government and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a multidimensional mission authorized by the African Union and mandated by the United Nations Security Council.

The terror group has increased attacks since Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected for a second term last year, declared an "all-out war" on al-Shabaab.