Somali security forces reported that 18 extremists were killed during an operation in the northern region of Puntland, although the guerrillas denied that they suffered casualties in the clashes, like reported by plenglish.com.
‘We killed 18 insurgents and burned six of their bases in the hills of Galgala in a four-days operation to eliminate Al Shabab,’ stated Col. Mohamed Ismail, of the Security Force in the area.
‘We also take their weapons. We burned their food and medicine stores, ‘the official added.
Troops from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland receive training and support from United States forces in the northern Somali area, but it is unknown what role these soldiers played in the operation.
For its part, the Islamic armed group Al Shabab, linked to the terrorist network Al-Qaeda, confirmed that there was a raid, but rejected that the action caused casualties.
In this context, the spokesman of the military wing of the rebel formation, Sheik Abdiasis Abu Musab, said by telephone: ‘Puntland attacked us today (Sunday), but we rejected them and we chased them away. There were no victims. ‘
