Nairobi-(Puntland Post)-The soldiers killed and injured by Al Shabaab at El Adde in Somalia’s Gedo region belonged to 9th Kenya Rifles formation in Eldoret and arrived in Somalia by road two days before the attack by militants, military sources indicate.
KDF soldiers in Somalia under AMISOM are deployed for periods and are often rotated within Somalia itself or are withdrawn and replaced with other soldiers after a certain period.
The 9th Kenya Rifles is an infantry formation and the soldiers, some who were on their second tour of duty in Somalia, left Eldoret two weeks ago for Mandera before entering Somalia by road last week.
The sources also told The Standard that identification of the deceased and notification of families may take long because most of the bodies were dismembered extensively in the massive explosions.
Depending on the extent of dismemberment, a few may be identified by the tag which bears the soldier’s name, blood group and other details.
Additional information on identity will come from debriefing of the injured but most information will be known from DNA sequencing of next of kin after collection of all available body parts from the scene of Kenya’s worst battlefield carnage.