Ethiopia says its forces ‘stopped the attackers in their tracks’
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Al-Shabaab launched suicide attacks Wednesday on a military base manned by Ethiopian troops in Somalia, injuring four soldiers, according to authorities.
The attack on the base located on the outskirts of the Ethiopian-Somali border town of Dolow involved two vehicles and was promptly foiled by the “vigilant Ethiopian security forces stationed at the base, resulting in the neutralization of the attackers,” according to a statement by the Somali government published on the state-run news agency, SONNA.
The first vehicle exploded at the entrance to the base, causing significant damage and injuring four soldiers. The second vehicle was “neutralized” before reaching the base, averting any further harm, it said.
“The Ethiopian National Defense Forces stopped the attackers in their tracks before they could wreak havoc. The ENDF neutralised suicide bombers and destroyed weapons to be used by the terrorist group,” the Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter.
The Ethiopian Forces, who were attacked by the al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group, were deployed by the government as non-African Union (AU) peacekeepers to support Somalia’s government in the fight against al-Shabaab and guard the border to prevent terrorists from crossing into Ethiopia.
The non-AU forces were deployed in the Gedo region late last year after hundreds of al-Shabaab terrorists crossed into Ethiopia, sparking weeks of deadly fighting between the terrorists and the forces of Ethiopia’s Somali region.
The terror attack Wednesday is the third on foreign troops in Somalia in less than two weeks.
The terror group carried out a deadly attack on an AU forces base in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia in late May.
The base in Bulo Marer, 110 kilometers (68 miles) south of the national capital of Mogadishu, was manned by Ugandan forces serving under the AU’s mission in the country.
The group has been fighting the Somali government and the AU mission in Somalia since 2007.
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years with the main threats from al-Shabaab and the Daesh/ISIS terror groups.
