About 22,000 troops are fighting al-Qaeda linked militants in Somalia

Uganda’s army, the Uganda People’s Defense Forces have killed six members of Al Qaeda linked Somali Islamist group Al Shabab and captured two of them, the army spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda has revealed.

Ankunda made this revelation on Wednesday afternoon via micro-blogging site twitter.

UPDF kills six Al Shabab terrorists at qoryooley in Somalia, two captured” Lt Col Ankunda tweeted.

He added saying “One machine gun, one rocket propelled grenade, three bombs recovered from captured shabab”

The army spokesman’s revelations come days after the islamist group carried out a deadly attack on the parliament in the Somali capital Mogadishu that left three UPDF soldiers killed while four injured.

The deceased soldiers include; Joseph Ochaya (Pte) from Pader, Philip Baligeya (WO II) from Kaliro and Albert Onzele (WO II) from Nebbi.

UPDF IN SOMALIA

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) are in Somalia under the African Mission In Somalia (AMISOM) with United Nations Security Council approval.

AMISOM was created by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council on 19 January 2007 with an initial six-month mandate.On 21 February 2007 the United Nations Security Council approved the mission’s mandate.

Uganda deployed it’s troops in 2007, a move that drew criticisms from opposition politicians in the country.

Uganda is the biggest contributor to the AU force of about 18,000.