Seven Ugandan soldiers serving with the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia were killed during a three-day battle with al-Shabaab in the Lower Shabelle region, Uganda's military said. Ugandan officials said their forces ultimately recaptured the contested town from the armed group.
Uganda People's Defence Force spokesperson Felix Kulayigye confirmed the deaths after the fighting. A Ugandan defense ministry statement described the operation as a prolonged siege, with Ugandan personnel fighting as part of AUSSOM, the African Union-led force assigned to support stabilization and combat al-Shabaab.
The casualties came during a difficult transition for international security operations in Somalia. AUSSOM had replaced the earlier African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, known as ATMIS. At the time of the battle, AUSSOM had 11,146 soldiers, but the mission said in April that it needed another 8,000 personnel. Funding shortfalls compounded the troop gap, raising questions about how securely forces could hold areas recovered from militants.
Al-Shabaab, an armed group affiliated with al-Qaeda, has waged a long insurgency against Somalia's internationally recognized government. Somali troops, supported by African Union peacekeepers, had forced the organization onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023. More recent attacks, however, prompted concern that the group was regaining operational momentum.
Those attacks were not confined to remote positions. In March, militants targeted the convoy of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Fighting in key towns added to worries that al-Shabaab could exploit security gaps during the restructuring of the African Union mission.
The Ugandan losses illustrated the cost of attempting to reverse that pressure. Retaking a town can disrupt militant control, but holding it requires enough personnel, logistical support and sustained coordination with Somali forces. A three-day siege that killed seven peacekeepers showed that even a claimed battlefield success could impose a serious burden on the mission.
Uganda has been one of the countries contributing troops to African Union operations in Somalia. The engagement also tested the successor mission early in its mandate. Its soldiers' deaths therefore had significance beyond a single engagement, drawing attention to the resources available to the successor mission and the continuing danger facing its contingents.
The supplied account did not identify the seven soldiers, give an al-Shabaab casualty figure or provide a detailed chronology of the battle. It also did not include a response from the militant group. What Uganda's military did confirm was a deadly, multi-day operation followed by the recapture of the town, against the wider background of an understrength mission and renewed concern about the insurgency.
