DHAKA: At least 19 people have been killed in a suicide attack on an African Union base in the Somali town of Beledweyne near Ethiopia’s border, officials say.

A car rammed into the gates, exploded and gunmen then stormed the building.

The BBC’s Mohammed Moalimu in Somalia says it is a base for Djiboutian troops and Somali policemen.

An al-Shabab spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, told media that the al-Qaeda-linked group had carried out the attack.

Last month, the Islamist group said it was behind a suicide attack at a popular cafe in Beledweyne which killed 16 people.

Beledweyne is a strategic town, 30km from the Ethiopian border on the main road to the capital, Mogadishu, and also on the major artery linking the north and south of the country.

Al-Shabab militants have been driven out of Somalia`s major towns by a UN-mandated African Union force (Amisom) of some 18,000 soldiers, but still control large parts of southern Somalia.

BDST: 2206 HRS, NOV 19, 2013
RoR/GCP