Mogadishu clashes leave 82 AU troops dead

Government sources have confirmed the deaths of as many as 82 soldiers of the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) in clashes with al-Shabab fighters over the past two weeks.

At least 190 other AMISOM troops have also sustained serious injuries in the clashes and have been flown to neighboring Djibouti for treatment, said the officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

A Somali military colonel accused the AMISOM spokesman Major Ba-Hoku Barigye of underestimating the AU death toll in Somalia.