Al-Shabab attack: 70 killed, women beheaded on Somalia military base

Mogadishu: Nearly 70 people were killed and dozens wounded by al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremists who stormed a military base in Somalia’s semiautonomous state of Puntland.

 
During the rampage civilians, including women, were beheaded. It is the region’s deadliest attack of the year said the officials.

 
A senior military official said. “The attack began with a blast at the remote Af-Urur camp, roughly 62 miles west of the commercial hub of Bossaso, before the extremists overran the base and killed soldiers at close range.”

 
The extremists, including suicide bombers, reportedly attacked the base from three directions, forcing soldiers to retreat.

 

Col Hashi Ahmed, a senior military official said that the reinforcement troops reached the area and drove the extremists out of the camp.

 

Al-Shabab last year became the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa and Puntland in northern Somalia also faces a growing threat from ISIS-linked fighters who have split from al-Shabab.