Al-Shabaab militants storm base used by Ethiopian troops

The group said it rammed a suicide car bomb into the entrance of the Halgan base before exchanging fire with Ethiopian soldiers.

It said it had killed 43 soldiers, but a spokesman for the African Union force gave no immediate comment. In the past, casualty figures cited by al-Shabaab have been much higher than official numbers.

Residents said they heard a huge explosion at the base and a heavy exchange of gunfire shortly before dawn on Thursday. They reported gunfire could still be heard at least an hour after the initial blast.

The group often launches gun and bomb attacks on officials, Somali security forces and African Union troops in an attempt to topple the western-backed government in Mogadishu and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia.

Kenyan troops suffered heavy losses in January when al-Shabaab made a dawn raid on their camp in El Adde, Hiran, near the Kenyan border. Al-Shabaab said it killed more than 100 soldiers but Kenya gave no exact casualty figure.