Americans die in Islamist attack on Kenyan base
– Three Americans – one US military service member and two contractors – were killed by Somalia’s al-Shabaab militant group during an attack on Sunday on a military base in Kenya used by both US and Kenyan forces.
The military’s Africa Command confirmed the deaths and said two other Americans who work for the US department of defence were also wounded in the attack on the Manda Bay Airfield in Lamu county, close to the Somali border.
“The wounded Americans are currently in stable condition and being evacuated,” Africa Command (Africom) said in a statement.
The attack presents another crisis for Washington just as the Pentagon grapples with a rapidly escalating standoff with Iran following a Friday US drone strike in Baghdad that killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
Tehran and Washington have traded threats and counterthreats following the strike, stoking fears of open conflict.
The assault by al-Shabaab, which has been fighting for more than a decade to overthrow the Somali government and impose Islamic law, began before dawn and lasted around four hours.
A Kenyan police report seen by Reuters said the Islamist militants destroyed two planes, two US helicopters and multiple American military vehicles during their assault.
The Kenyan military said five militants had been killed in the attack. There were no immediate reports of Kenyan casualties.
In a statement on Sunday, alShabaab claimed it had destroyed seven aircraft and three military vehicles, without providing other details. It also published pictures of masked gunmen standing next to an aircraft in flames.
Africom said fewer than 150 US personnel had been at the base, where they provided training and counterterrorism support to East African forces.
Kenyan military spokesperson
Colonel Paul Njuguna said the base had been secured.
Residents on nearby Lamu Island, a haven for wealthy tourists and visiting European royalty, said a loud explosion jolted them awake before 4am.
Abdalla Barghash said he later saw a large dark plume of smoke rising from the Manda Bay mainland, where the airstrip and base are located. –