The Ugandan government announced on Saturday that 54 Ugandan peacekeepers had been killed in an attack by the militant group al-Shabaab on a military base in Somalia. According to Reuters, the assault took place on Friday, May 26, in Bulamarer, approximately 130 kilometers southwest of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. The targeted base belonged to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni confirmed that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) had successfully recaptured the base from the militants, stating that “Our soldiers demonstrated remarkable resilience and reorganized themselves, resulting in the recapture of the base by Tuesday.”
While the exact details of the attack and casualties were not immediately disclosed, Museveni acknowledged the loss of Ugandan troops serving in ATMIS. The assault involved car and suicide bombings, as reported by ATMIS on May 26. Airborne reinforcement from the mission and its allies successfully destroyed the militants’ weaponry during their retreat. The adjacent base of the Somali military was also targeted by the extremist group, according to an officer from the Lower Shabelle region.
In a separate incident, al-Shabaab attacked another military base in Masagawa on Tuesday, May 30, resulting in the deaths of 17 people. Captain Abdullahi Mohamed, a military officer in Masagawa, confirmed the attack and reported that 12 al-Shabaab militants were killed. However, the exact number of troops killed remains unknown. A resident of Masagawa, Hussein Nur, stated that he witnessed 17 fatalities, including both attackers and defenders and mentioned that the fighting had moved into the nearby forest. The town is now under government control.
The Somalia army, via Twitter, announced that it had successfully thwarted an attack on the town and eliminated several al-Shabaab fighters. The extremist group, which has links to al-Qaeda, has been engaged in a protracted conflict since 2006, seeking to overthrow Somalia’s central government and establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. Despite significant government efforts to counter them, al-Shabaab has continued to launch attacks on hotels, military installations, and government establishments.
