Al Shabaab Releases El Adde Video on KDF Attack

Somalia's Al Shabaab militia group has released a propaganda video capturing the January attack on a Kenya Defence Forces camp in El Adde, Gedo region.

In the video, the group shows how it ambushed Kenyan soldiers with little resistance, using a vehicle loaded with explosives commandeered by a suicide bomber, which detonates at the entrance of the camp. 

The video reveals the identity of the suicide bomber as AbduQadir Ali aka Farhan, who drives the Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) that explodes lauching the offensive.

Shortly after, the militiamen are seen shooting randomly as they make their way into the camp, killing soldiers and even accosted a group of Kenyan troops that tries to leave the base in an armoured vehicle.

Some of the attackers are seen in the video dressed in Ugandan military uniforms with orange headbands as they surge towards the Kenyan camp amid heavy gunfire.

It is also clear from the video, that Kenya Al Shabaab fighters were involved in the ambush, as they speak in Swahili while sending warning messages to the Kenyan government.

In the 48-minute clip, Al Shabaab claims to have executed over 100 soldiers during the January 15 assault on KDF, posting pictures of the fallen troops.

The extremists also showcase military equipment seized from the KDF base, including a number of vehicles, weapons and assorted rounds of ammunition.

The video further confirms earlier reports on captured soldiers as they are interviewed and forced to narrate how the ambush took place. One soldier in captivity even tells President Uhuru Kenyatta to consider withdrawing troops from Somalia, where the Kenyan military is operating under AMISOM to defeat the militia group .

The video is narrated by a man with a British accent who normally does all Al Shabaab's propaganda clips produced in English.

Kenya's government is yet to respond to the video as Spokesman Eric Kiraithe told the Nation, that he could not comment since he had not watched the video.

The El  Adde attack is considered the dealiest on KDF troops since launching an offensive into Somalia in October 2011 with the aim of crushing Al Shabaab, following frequent abductions and terror activities by the group in the country.

The number of casualities in the assault has remained a puzzle, as the military has often declined to divulge details of the attack including size of the company at the ill-fated base.

    

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