slamist gunmen attack African Union base in omalia

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Eight Islamist gunmen infiltrated the main
African Union (AU) base in Mogadishu on Thursday and killed three
peacekeepers and a civilian contractor, the AU mission in Somalia said.

Somali militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack,
which lasted several hours, and said it had killed 14 peacekeepers.
Witnesses reported hearing bomb blasts and volleys of gunfire through
the day.

"We targeted the enemies at a time they were celebrating Christmas,"
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman,
told Reuters.

In the past, al Shabaab has exaggerated the number of soldiers it has
killed, while officials have played down losses.

The al Qaeda-aligned militants want to topple the Western-backed
Mogadishu government and describe AU troops as "Christian enemies".
The Islamist group also wants to impose its own strict version of
sharia law in the country.

The raid showed al Shabaab's ability to carry out high-profile attacks in
the capital even as it is losing territory in rural areas to AU
peacekeepers who have launched two major offensives this year.

"The terrorists, some of whom were disguised in Somali National Army
uniforms, breached the base camp around lunch hour and attempted to
gain access to critical infrastructure, during which five of them were
killed and three others captured," the AU peacekeeping mission in
Somalia, AMISOM, said in a statement.

It did not disclose the nationalities of the peacekeepers and civilian
contractor killed in the attack.

The AU's Halane base is on the edge of the Mogadishu international
airport compound, which houses the base for U.N. operations in
Somalia as well as the British and Italian embassies and has a tight
security cordon and blast walls.

Western diplomats who were celebrating Christmas in the sweltering
Mogadishu heat were evacuated to safety bunkers until the raid was
over.

Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the United Nations in Somalia, said all
U.N. staff were safe and accounted for.

Al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 but it still controls
chunks of the countryside in south and central Somalia. This year it
has lost several key towns, including the port city of Barawe, during
the two AMISOM offensives.

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