Al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Raage told the group’s radio station Andalus that they sent hundreds of its fighters to carry out the mid-March attack in parts of the northeastern administration of Puntland.
Ali Dhere did not specify the number of Al-Shabaab fighters killed in the confrontation with Puntland forces.
Puntland and its neighboring region of Galmudug claimed victory over Al-Shabaab, each saying it had killed hundreds of the group’s fighters and captured dozens others. In pictures shown by the two regional administrations, most of the arrested or surrendered Al-Shabaab fighters were young children some in their early teens.
Ali Dhere paid tribute to fallen Al-Shabaab fighters in the attack , hoped swift recovery for the injured and prayed for the freedom of the Al-Shabaab captives in the hands of Puntland and Galmudug.