Kenyans during a vigil at Freedom Corner, Uhuru Park, on January 21,
2016 in honour of KDF soldiers killed when Al-Shabab terrorists attacked
their camp in Somalia. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenyan forces in Somalia were warned of an impending Al-Shabaab
attack 45 days before the group overran one of their bases, a Somali
general says.
Kenya was given "clear and reliable intelligence" about the threat, General Abas Ibrahim Gurey told the BBC.
The
Islamist militants say they killed more than 100 Kenyan troops in the
attack, which would make it the deadliest attack on Kenya's army.
The Kenyan military has not given a death toll or responded to Gen Gurey.
In
Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta told a memorial service for the
fallen soldiers that Kenyan troops would stay in Somalia despite the
attack.
"We are at war with extremists, terrorists and
it is a war we must win. We remain unbowed," Mr Kenyatta told the
audience, which included families of the victims and some of the
soldiers injured in the attack.
Gen
Gurey, who commands Somali troops in the Gedo region, where the Kenyan
army base is located in the town of El-Adde, told the BBC Somali service
that the attack was foreshadowed by a build-up of militants in the
area.
"We were told that Al-Shabaab was bringing
fighters from all over the regions in south Somalia - from Gedo region,
Middle and Lower Shabelle and Juba. They were very strong."
Kenya
has said the bombs used by insurgents at the base were three times more
powerful than that used in the 1998 US embassy attack in Nairobi, which
killed 224 people
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