Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has alleged that 180 Kenyan soldiers perished in the January El-Adde attack carried out by the Somalia-based Al Shabaab militia group.
President Mohamud gave the figure in an interview with a Somali Cable TV, where he was defending his attendance of the memorial service for the slain Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) troops, after sharp criticism on social media by Somalis, who claimed he was not concerned about the lives of his countrymen.
"When 180 or close to 200 soldiers who were sent to us are killed in one day in Somalia, it's not easy," he said in the interview.
The figure by the Somali President comes at a time when the Kenyan government is yet to reveal the total number of casualties suffered in the attack.
Read also: KDF Strikes Al Shabaab Camps In Revenge Attack
After the attack, Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo, told the public that the targeted KDF camp was of a company size made up 80-250 soldiers.
However, KDF Spokesman Col Obonyo has dismissed the Somali President's remarks terming them as false.
"Ask the source of the information to clarify it. Maybe he knows his sources," he was quoted by the BBC.
It is unclear where President Mohamud got his figures from or whether he spilt the actual figure of fallen troops in the dawn attack.
Al Shabaab used three vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) commandeered by suicide bombers, which according to Chief of Defence Forces General Samson Mwathethe, had a devastating impact.
Mwathethe promised to make public the numbers of fallen soldiers after DNA processes were complete.
Since the El Adde attack, KDF has been out on a revenge mission by conducting ground and air strikes on the enemies' camps.
The military recently confirmed that it had killed Al Shabaab's Deputy Commander and a dozen middle level commanders in a lethal operation by the Special Forces and the Air force.
Read also: How Kenya's Special Forces Killed Al Shabaab Commander
