KAMPALA: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday there had been casualties during an attack by Al Shabaab on a military base manned by Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia on Friday.

Museveni did not say how many soldiers were killed or wounded but it was the first official admission of losses in the attack among the Ugandan troops who are serving in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

“Condolences to the country and the families of those who died,” Museveni said in a statement, adding the country’s military had set up a panel to investigate what happened.

Al Shabaab has since 2006 has been fighting to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government and establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023