In Somalia, African Union says militants faked killing of troops

The African Union on Friday dismissed claims by Somali insurgents that they had killed dozens of alliance soldiers in Mogadishu, contending that Shabab had dressed the corpses of its own dead in AU uniforms as a propaganda stunt.

The Islamist militia, which is linked to Al Qaeda, displayed dozens of bodies — along with Bibles and wooden crosses that purportedly belonged to the dead — on the outskirts of the war-torn Somali capital Thursday, claiming to have killed about 70 peacekeepers. The images were shown on the website of a Mogadishu radio station sympathetic to Shabab, and witnesses told Agence France-Presse news service they had counted 67 to 70 bodies.

The bodies wore AU camouflage and many had flak jackets and helmets worn by AU troops in Somalia. But the alliance said only 10 of its soldiers had been killed in action and two were missing.

The 9,000-member African Union force, known as AMISOM, is deployed in Somalia to protect the weak transitional federal government, which is backed by the United Nations.

If the casualty figures claimed by Shabab hold true, it would be the largest loss for the AU mission in its four-year history. It would be damaging not only for the countries that contribute to the force, Uganda and Burundi, but also for Kenya, which launched a military operation in famine-ravaged Somalia last weekend in a bid to drive Shabab from the southern border region.

Shabab has threatened suicide bombings in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in retaliation for Kenya’s incursion, like its attacks on two bars in Kampala, Uganda, in July 2010 that killed 76 people.

With the Kenyan ground forces literally bogged down in thick mud because of the rainy season, some analysts have questioned whether Kenya could be dragged into a Vietnam War-style quagmire. It’s Kenya’s first military incursion into another country since independence, and Shabab’s fighters boast that they are seasoned fighters.

In recent months, Shabab has been pushed out of much of Mogadishu by the AU and transitional government forces. But this month it claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at a government compound in the capital that killed more than 80 people. Among them were students waiting for exam results that could have meant scholarships to study in Turkey.

Kenya’s military action has been planned for months, but the trigger for the operation was the kidnappings of several foreigners.

Kenya has closed its border with Somalia to keep militants from infiltrating — but that has had a devastating impact on famine-hit residents in the worst affected region in southern Somalia, which is controlled by Shabab.

Kenyan authorities Friday arrested two doctors who run a clinic in the Nairobi neighborhood of Eastleigh, which is home to many Somalis and Kenyans of Somali descent, and charged them with being members of Shabab. Reuters news service reported that injured Shabab militants sometimes travel to Eastleigh for medical treatment.

The Associated Press reported that Kenyan authorities arrested a total of 10 people, including Muslim cleric Imam Hassan Mahat Omar, as part of a crackdown.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

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