Somalia: Senior military officer killed in Al Shabaab attack

BAL'AD, Somalia - Al Shabaab said Sunday it killed a senior Somali military commander and several soldiers in an ambush attack on an army convoy on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Garowe Online reports.

In a statement posted on its affiliated websites, the group said its fighters killed Col Mohamed Rageh after the attack on his convoy heading to Jowhar, the regional capital of Middle Shabelle for duty from Mogadishu.

The militants said they used a rocket-propelled grenade [RPG] and machine to attack the colonel's vehicle at Farah Golaley area, along Bal'ad-Jowhar road.

Al-Shabaab has also claimed to have killed an unspecified number of SNA soldiers who were among the security guards escorting the slain military commander and also burnt a vehicle on the spot.

Independent sources say that several militants were killed and some injured in the counter-attack. The Somali government is yet to comment on the incident and Al Shabaab's claim.

The Al Qaeda-linked militant group frequently overstates the death toll from its attacks against Somali troops and their allied African Union Mission in Somalia [AMISOM] force in the south and central regions.

The group which is trying to oust the UN-backed Somalia government has stepped up attacks in recent months.

GAROWE ONLINE