Fighters from Somalia militant group al Shabaab attacked an African Union base in southern Somalia early on Friday, militants and a Somali army officer said, and fighting was going on inside.
The militants rammed a suicide car bomb into the gates of the base in Ceel Cado, about 550 km west of Mogadishu, near the Kenyan border, before their fighters burst inside.
A Somali military officer said fighting was continuing.
"Our fighters went in and after heavy exchange of gunfire we took over the base," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab´s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
Residents said they could hear sporadic gunfire.
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