El Adde attack

2016 Battle of El Adde
Part of the War in Somalia
Political situation in Somalia
Date 15 January 2016 Location El Adde, Somalia Result Major Al Shabaab Victory[1][2] Kenyan Defense Forces temporarily pull out of 3 towns in Gedo Region Deadliest attack on AMISOM mission[3] El Adde captured by Al Shabaab, recaptured by KDF four days later
Belligerents
Al-Shabaab	AMISOM[4] Kenya
Commanders and leaders
Ahmad Umar (Al-Shabaab Emir) Maalim Janow[3] Mahad Mohammed Karatey (Intelligence Chief)[5] Ahmed Iman Ali[6]	Major Geoffrey Obwoge † (Base Commander)[7]
Units involved
Saleh Nabhan brigade[8] Abu Zubair battalion[3][8]	Kenya Army Infantry 9th Kenya Rifles Battalion[8] 5th Kenya Rifles Battalion[8]
Strength
600-800 fighters (Kenya estimate)[9]	Company: ~200 soldiers[10]
Casualties and losses
?	160  †[11] 21+  (WIA) 12-20  (POW)[12][13]

At dawn 15 January 2016, Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack on a Kenyan army base in the town of El Adde. It remains the deadliest attack on the AMISOM Peace Support Mission to Somalia.^[3][14][15]

Background

In 2011, Kenya joined the African Union Mission to Somalia. Since then it has occupied the southern Gedo Region with a presence of around 3,000 troops.^[16]

According to Somali army general Abas Ibrahim Gurey, clear and reliable intelligence of an imminent attack had been passed along to the commanding officer in charge of the El Adde base, 45 days in advance.^[17][18][19] The base in Somalia was occupied by Kenya troops for only two weeks beforehand.^[20]

Kenya Defense Force base attack

On 15 January, at 6:30 a.m before morning prayers, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive laden armoured personnel carrier to the front gate to a AMISOM garrison base in El-Adde. The base compound housed a Company-sized garrison of men belonging to both the 9th and 5th Kenya Rifles.^[17][20]

According to KDF General Samson Mwathethe, the explosion was three times more powerful then that of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi.^[4] The blast damaged the command and communications buildings, as well as an armory and fuel depots, killing dozens of soldiers.^[8][19][21] Al Shabaab praised the suicide bomber AbduQadir Ali.^[22]

The explosion was followed by an estimated 150 Al Shabaab assaulting the base with rocket-propelled grenades and waves of attackers.^[23] The attack caught Kenyan troops unprepared and asleep. At 7:30 a.m, the battle lasted for more than one hour of fierce fighting,^[1][3] until Kenyan troops vacated the base and fled into the dense bush pursued by Al Shabaab militants.^[15][18]

A Somali National Army base located 600 meters away, was empty of troops, who allegedly left hours before the attack per the Kenyan military.^[20][24]

Casualties

Al Shabaab claimed to have captured 12 Kenyan soldiers, including the commanding officer after the battle.^[13][25] In a video they released, showing the bodies of 63 KDF soldiers and captured military hardware.^[20] They later claimed to have killed over 100 Kenyan troops.^{[25][26][27][28]}

On 19 January, Somali officials said that 13 Kenyan soldiers that had escaped from El Adde had appeared in a town in Gedo, appearing "traumatized". On 21 January, 11 soldiers were found alive in rescue operations after villagers sheltered them during the attack.^[4][11]

Aftermath

Colonel David Obonyo of the Kenyan military said DNA tests will be used to identify the remains of the soldiers killed in the suicide car explosion. With most burned beyond recognition.^[2]

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta expressed his condolences to the families and vowed militants would pay a heavy price for the attack. He reaffirmed Kenyan support in the AMISOM Peace Support Mission to Somalia and ruled out withdrawal of troops from Somalia.^[29] Declaring the terrorists will have no time to breathe. “We will not be cowed by these cowards. With our allies, we will continue in Somalia to fulfill our mission. We will hunt down the criminals involved in today’s events. Our soldiers’ blood will not be shed in vain." Kenyan bishops around the country offered condolences.^[30] A

The Somalian president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack.^[31] In a later interview with Somali Cable TV, he described the attack as a "defeat" in a line of victories and put the KDF death toll at 200 soldiers.^[32] However according to a Somali presidential spokesman, he was "misquoted" on the precise casualty figures.^[33]

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari along with Somalian president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made a three-day visit to Kenya to attend a ceremony in honor of the soldiers killed at the Moi army barracks in Eldoret, Kenya.^[14]

On 22 January, the alleged mastermind of the El Adde attack and leader of the Al Shabaab "Abu Zubair battalion", Maalim Janow, was killed in airstrikes according to Kenya's military.^[2][3]

See also

• Westgate shopping mall attack
• Operation Linda Nchi
• Operation Indian Ocean
• Battle of Leego (2015)
• 2016 timeline of the War in Somalia
• List of terrorist incidents, January–June 2016

References

1. Ohito, David. "How KDF fought 10-hour battle to save ill-fated camp". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
2. OHITO, CYRUS OMBATI and DAVID. "KDF soldiers kill Al Shabaab leader who plotted deadly raid". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
3. "We believe we’ve killed mastermind of El Adde attack-KDF". Citizentv.co.ke. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
4. "Kenya troops killed by 'huge bomb' in Somalia attack - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
8. "Al-Shabab attacks African Union base in Somalia". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
10. Kenya Rattled as Shabab Turns Sights on Somalia Military Targets
11. OMBATI, CYRUS. "More bodies collected in El-Adde by KDF special forces, toll expected to rise". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
13. "Somali Militants Broadcast Voices of Captured Kenyan Soldiers After Attack on Military Base | VICE News". VICE News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
14. "Nigeria and Somalia to honour Kenya’s fallen soldiers in El Adde | Diplomat News Network". Retrieved 2016-02-02.
15. "Kenya: KDF Soldiers 'Will Fight On Until There Is Peace in Somalia'". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
17. OLLINGA, SILAH KOSKEI AND MICHAEL. "DOD asks families of missing KDF soldiers to go for DNA tests to help identify bodies". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
18. Team, Standard. "New details of El Adde attack: Somali general claims KDF received pre-attack intelligence". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
19. "What happened when al-Shabab attacked a Kenyan base in Somalia? - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
20. Gettleman, Jeffrey (2016-01-20). "Kenya Rattled as Shabab Turns Sights on Somalia Military Targets". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
21. Ohito, David. "Standard Digital News - Probe team seeks role of Somali troops in El Adde ambush". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
22. Hussein, Abdikarim. "Al-Shabaab release 48-minute propaganda video about El-Adde raid". Tuko.co.ke - Kenya news. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
23. "90 days on, Kenya remembers dawn raid on El Adde KDF base". The Star, Kenya. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
24. "Somalia: Scores of Kenyan Soldiers Feared Dead". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
25. Ombati, Cyrus. "Local clan in El Adde might have betrayed KDF". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
26. "Kenyan troops withdraw from El Adde massacre camp in Somalia". The Star, Kenya. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
27. Williams, Paul D. (2016-01-19). "Three things we learned from last week’s al-Shabaab attack in Somalia". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
28. "Bodies of Kenyan soldiers dragged through Somali streets after al-Shabaab attack on base". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
29. "Kenya President: Al-Shabab Will Pay 'Heavy Price'". VOA. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
30. "CatholicHerald.co.uk » Kenya’s bishop offers condolences after soldiers killed by al-Shabab". www.catholicherald.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
31. "Somalia: Somali President Condemns Attack On KDF Base At El-Adde". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
32. "Somali leader: '200 Kenyan troops' dead in January raid". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
33. "I was misquoted, Somalia President says on report 200 KDF troops killed in El Adde". The Star, Kenya. Retrieved 2016-02-28.