Pentagon Says Terrorists Attacked US Base in Kenya

File photo showing U.S. servicemen performing flag detail at Camp Simba, Manda Bay, Kenya, on Aug. 26, 2019. Staff Sgt. Lexie West/U.S. Air Force via AP

The U.S. military said an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base in Kenya that houses some American personnel.

There were no reports of casualties among Kenyan or U.S. forces, but several attackers were said to have been killed.

“U.S. Africa Command acknowledges there was an attack at Manda Bay Airfield, Kenya, and is monitoring the situation,” the American military said in a statement.

“Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the incident,” the statement said. “As facts and details emerge, we will provide an update.”

The Kenyan military base, called Camp Simba, has housed U.S. military personnel for years. It’s unclear how many Americans are stationed at the base, which has reportedly been a site for U.S. special operations forces operating in Somalia.

Map showing the approximate location of the terror attack in Lamu County, Kenya. The U.S. military said an Al-Qaeda affiliated group attacked Manda Bay Airfield, Kenya, on Jan. 5, 2020. OpenStreetMaps

The attack began before dawn and was still underway four hours later, witnesses and military sources told Reuters.

Al-Shabaab is a jihadist terror group based in East Africa that’s affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

The terror group claimed in a statement that attackers had “successfully stormed the heavily fortified military base and have now taken effective control of a part of the base.”

Kenyan military spokesman Col. Paul Njuguna said at least four of the terrorists were killed as their raid was repulsed. Njuguna was further cited as saying that a fire affected fuel tanks at the airstrip, but that’s been brought under control.

“A suicide car bomb reportedly breached the entry to Camp Simba, Manda Bay,” according to a tweet by Voice of America editor Harun Maruf, who posted photos showing a plume of dark smoke rising that was said to be from the scene.

A Twitter user shared footage of flames and dark smoke billowing, allegedly from the affected location.

Al-Shabaab published pictures of masked gunmen standing next to aircraft in flames, Reuters reported, though the images couldn’t be immediately verified.

“Seven aircraft and three military vehicles were destroyed in the attack,” the terror group said in a statement that included photos of damage allegedly from the scene. The jihadist organization also claimed that the raid caused “severe casualties on both American and Kenyan troops stationed there,” although neither Kenyan nor U.S. authorities confirmed they had suffered any casualties.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Christopher Karns called Al-Shabab’s claims, including inflicting severe casualties, “grossly exaggerated.”

The Kenya Defence Forces said in a statement that the terror attack had been “successfully repulsed” and that “the airstrip is safe.”

Kenyan authorities said some U.S. aircraft and vehicles had been destroyed.

Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia told The Associated Press that five suspects were arrested and were being interrogated.

Al-Shabaab Activity in Region

Based in neighboring Somalia, Al-Shabaab often carries out attacks in Kenya, whose military has committed thousands of troops to fight the terror group.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia in 2011 after a spate of cross-border attacks and kidnappings. The troops were later absorbed into an African Union peacekeeping force, now 21,000-strong, that supports the Western-backed Somali government.

Last year, Al-Shabaab launched a deadly attack in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, killing 21 people.

A boy touches the portrait of the victim of an Al-Shabaab terror attack during her burial ceremony in Nakuru, Kenya, on Jan 25, 2019. At least 21 people were killed in the attack on the Dusit hotel complex in Nairobi on Jan. 15, 2019, which ended after an almost 20-hour siege in which hundreds of civilians were rescued, and the five attackers killed. Suleiman Mbatiah/AFP/Getty Images

This week, Al-Shabaab gunmen killed three passengers during an attack on a bus in Lamu County, police said.

File photo showing Kenyan police officers checking vehicles after an ambush by gunmen in Lamu county, Kenya, on Jan. 2, 2020. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast is a major tourist destination but, given its location close to Somalia, is vulnerable to attacks perpetrated by jihadi extremists.

According to the U.S. military, Camp Simba is operated by the Air Force’s 475th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron, part of the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Vance Goodfellow (L), 475th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron (EABS) commander, speaks with U.S. Army Lt. Col. Todd Martin (R), safety officer assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) Safety directorate, about water tanks during a battlefield circulation site visit at Camp Simba in Manda Bay, Kenya, on Feb. 24, 2018. U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Timothy Moore

U.S. Africa Command is responsible for military relations with nations and regional organizations in Africa.

Reuters contributed to this report.