Twelve bodies of slain Ugandan soldiers who were killed in an ambush on Sunday in Somalia were flown home.
In
coffins draped in the national flag, the bodies were received by top
military officials and families at the army air base in Entebbe on
Wednesday and then taken to Bombo Military Hospital for embalmment.
The
Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) soldiers, serving under the
African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), were in a convoy at Gorowen
in Lower Shabelle region, about 140km Southwest of Mogadishu, when they
were attacked by Islamist Al Shabaab fighters early Sunday. Seven others
were injured.
The Ugandan contingent was conducting a joint patrol together with the Somalia National Army.
Al Shabaab claimed to have killed 39 soldiers in the ambush. The numbers the militants give are most times exaggerated.
In September 2015, Al Shabaab overrun a UPDF base in Janaale killing 19 soldiers.
On Tuesday, Ugandan lawmakers demanded to know the human cost of the country’s mission in Somalia.
Uganda has the largest contingent in Amisom with more than 6,000 troops.
Al
Shabaab is fighting to force out the 22,000- strong Amisom peacekeepers
as well as the internationally-backed government under President
Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo and impose its strict interpretation of Islam
in Somalia.
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