Ethiopia Denies Al-Shabab Convoy Ambush Claim

The Al-Shabab militant group on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush against an Ethiopian military convoy in the southwestern Bakool region of Somalia. Al-Shabab claimed to have killed 167 Ethiopian soldiers, destroyed military vehicles, and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition. A Somali official confirmed the ambush, and said the militants lost as many as 50 fighters. Casualty figures given by both sides have not been independently verified. Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Somalia, Mukhtar Mohamed Ware tells reporter Harun Maruf of VOA’s Somali Language Service, the al-Shabab claim is “propaganda.”