Battle of Janale (2015)

Battle of Janale
Part of the War in Somalia
Date 1 September 2015 Location Janale, Lower Shebelle, Somalia 1°48′26″N44°41′43″E / 1.8072222°N 44.6953011°E / 1.8072222; 44.6953011
Belligerents
Al-Shabaab	AMISOM Uganda
Commanders and leaders
Abdullah Ahmed Omar  † [1]	Unknown
Units involved
Sheikh Abu Zubeyr Battalion	UPDF
Strength
Dozens of	Unknown
Casualties and losses
5 killed (Al-Shabbab claim)	70 killed (Al-Shabbab claim) [2] 50 killed 50 missing (Western officials claim)
class=notpageimage| Location within Somalia Show map of Somalia Battle of Janale (2015) (Africa) Show map of Africa

The battle of Janale took place on September 1st 2015, when Al-Shabaab militants stormed an African Union military camp manned by Ugandan forces in the town of Janale, Lower Shabelle.

Battle

It began after an Al Shabaab suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the perimeter of the base, which exploded at the front of the base. Al Shabaab later named the suicide bomber in a propaganda video as Abdullah Ahmed Omar, a former Somali soldier who defected to Al Shabaab in 2014. ^[3] Following that, a team of heavily armed fighters entered the breach and attacked the troops inside. ^[4] The attack was launched to commemorate one anniversary after the group's former leader Ahmed Abdi Godane's death, who was killed in a U.S. drone airstrike in the previous year. ^[5]

References

1. "Somalia attack: Al-Shabab attacks African Union Janale base". BBC News. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
2. "Somalia attack: Al-Shabab attacks African Union Janale base". BBC News. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
3. "12 Ugandan troops killed as Shabaab assaults base in Somalia | FDD's Long War Journal". www.longwarjournal.org. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
4. "12 Ugandan troops killed as Shabaab assaults base in Somalia". Long War Journal. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
5. "Al Shabaab militants raid AU troops base in Somalia". Horseed Media. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.