4 Emirati soldiers killed in Somalia attack

The Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabab claimed an attack that killed four Emirati troops and a Bahraini military officer on a training mission at a military base in the Somali capital, authorities said Sunday.

The attack on Saturday targeted the troops at the General Gordon Military Base in Mogadishu. Details about the attack and whether it killed others remained scarce Sunday, though Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud offered his condolences to the UAE for the loss of its troops.

Early Sunday, the UAE’s WAM news agency reported the killing of three of its troops and the Bahraini officer in a “terrorist act.” A fourth later died en route back to the Emirates, WAM reported.

WAM released footage of three flag-draped caskets coming off an Emirati Boeing C-17A Globemaster III at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi with an honor guard present. WAM identified the dead as a colonel, two warrant officers and a corporal.

Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati diplomat, offered condolences to those killed and a quick recovery for the wounded.

“No treacherous act will prevent us from continuing the message of security and safety and combating extremism and terrorism in all its forms,” Gargash wrote on X.

The military of Bahrain later acknowledged the death of a major in a statement carried by the Bahrain News Agency.

Al-Shabab claimed the attack in a statement online.

The US Embassy in Somalia condemned what it called a “cowardly attack” against the training mission. “We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those who lost their lives in yesterday’s deplorable terrorist attack against UAE military trainers and Somali soldiers valiantly working to advance the nation’s stability,” it said.