KAMPALA: Some 54 Ugandan peacekeepers died when militants besieged an African Union base in Somalia last week, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said, in one of the worst recent attacks by Al-Shabaab group in the war-torn country.
“We discovered the lifeless bodies of 54 fallen soldiers, including a commander,” Museveni said.
The veteran leader was speaking during a meeting with members of his governing National Resistance Movement party, the presidency said on Sunday.
The toll is one of the heaviest yet since pro-government forces backed by the AU force known as ATMIS launched an offensive against Al-Shabaab last August.
It was also a rare admission of a major military death toll by African Union members.
Museveni had already said last week that “some of the soldiers there did not perform as expected and panicked” as some 800 assailants attacked. — AFP
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