Burundi: Dozens of Burundi Soldiers Killed in Al-Shabaab Attack in Somalia

African Mission for Somalia soldiers fighting the al-Shabaab insurgents in the front line in Mogadishu on (file photo).

An attack by al-Shabab Islamists on a remote African Union base in Somalia has claimed the lives of dozens of soldiers from Burundi. Several soldiers were also reported to have been injured and kidnapped.
More than 50 soldiers from Burundi were killed in Friday's attack by the Islamist group on a military base in the village of Lego in southern Somalia, a Burundian army spokesman said on Saturday.
"Several soldiers were also injured, and the death toll is likely to rise," Gaspard Baratuza told the DPA news agency.
The death toll has not been independently verified.
Eyewitnesses said the attack began when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into the entrance of the base, manned by some 100 Burundian soldiers who are taking part in an African Union (AU) mission in Somalia to help the government fight al-Shabab.
Militants armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades then moved into the base, situated 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, they said.