Ethiopian troops on Friday engaged in combat with Al-Shabaab fighters in the town of Buur Hakaba in Somalia’s southern Bay Region, multiple sources reported.
One source, a VOA journalist described the confrontation as one of the deadliest saying that the insurgents had attacked the convoy of the troops with an improvised explosive device, IED.
Harun Maruf said it took security reinforcement from Baidoa, capital of the Bay region to fend off the attack that left the Ethiopians with casualties.
He cited security briefing which said “… Al-Shabaab’s remote-controlled IEDs hit two of a 4-vehicle Ethiopian military convoy followed by heavy attack, troops on this convoy reportedly took significant casualties.”
An Ethiopian reinforcement from Baidoa was also ambushed with more IEDs. Ethiopian military helicopters are said to have targeted a base where the insurgents were believed to have launched their attacks.