At least four Somali soldiers and six rebels were killed after al-Shabaab militants attacked a military base in the town of Baidoa on Friday morning, an official told CNN.
Heavily armed al-Shabaab militants attacked the Isku-Darka military checkpoint, resulting in an hour-long gun battle which left four government soldiers and six militants dead along with 18 wounded, Col. Mahad Abdirahman said.
"Somali government troops managed to resist and push back the militants from the area," Abdirahman told CNN.
Sheik Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's military operations spokesman, told Reuters, "We fiercely attacked the military base near Baidoa," adding that the group briefly seized the base and killed more than 10 soldiers, but as Reuters noted, al-Shabaab often exaggerates.
The attack came just two days after the U.S. announced it had killed al-Shabaab's chief intelligence and security officer, Tahliil Abdishakur, in a drone attack.
A separate attack occurred Friday afternoon when a bus carrying Kenyan teachers exploded in the town of Galkayo, killing a Somali security guard and wounding 10 others, reported Voice of America.
Also on Friday, in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu, a travel agency officer was killed when a bomb hidden under his car seat exploded, CNN reported. No group has claimed responsibility for either of the two bombings, the news agency said.
In Kenya, suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen also attacked a truck carrying Kenyan soldiers near the Somalian border on Thursday, seriously wounding three, according to Reuters.
"The soldiers were going to fetch water from a borehole in Mangai village, Lamu East, when militia attacked them by shooting at their lorry," Lamu County police commander Ephantus Kiura said.
"Three soldiers were critically injured in the incident and were airlifted to a nearby naval base where they are receiving treatment."
Al-Shabaab is in the midst of an attempted overthrow of the Western-back Somalian government, and seeks to establish its own interpretation of strict Islamic law.
