In El-Adde, trapped soldiers turned guns on themselves
What you need to know:
he narration by Lance Corporal Lang’at and other soldiers provides fresh details about a battle in which a number of KDF men are still missing in action to date.
Some of those still missing include seven soldiers who withdrew from the base after holding onto it became untenable.
The mission was a daring one in which KDF pilots fired on al-Shabaab militants armed with anti-aircraft weapons until they ran out of ammunition.
Kenyan soldiers who left their comfortable homes, young families and fiancées to fight against the al-Shabaab militants died heroes when they turned their weapons on themselves after being hopelessly surrounded by enemy troops, their colleagues have said.
BOMBARDMENT
“Due to the criticality of the injury, the wounded soldier turned his rifle and shot himself on the lower chin to avoid being captured by the enemy alive. He died instantly,” Lance Corporal Eric Lang’at narrates about one of the Somalia heroes in the newly-released book, The Soldier’s Legacy.
In the tell-all book released by the Kenya Army, the soldiers also shower praises on colleagues who despite being in the line of fire, offered themselves as human shields so as to help those on safer sides to withdraw during the siege at El-Adde.
“…I heard Lance Bombardier Martin Imbitsi instructing his gunner colleagues to intensify Artillery engagement in order to break up the attack even if this meant bombarding own location to avert own troops being taken prisoner,” Lance Corporal Lang’at recalls.
The Battle of El Adde took place on January 15, 2016 and it is estimated that the KDF lost scores of men in the deadliest attack on the Kenyan military in history.
RESILIENCE
Despite the new revelations in the book, the official number of fatalities from the Battle of El Adde is not listed.
Described as the epitome of a soldier’s resilience and determination, Lance Corporal Lang’at has twice survived two major enemy attacks; initially at Miido and later at the El-Adde AMISOM Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Somalia.
“He nevertheless, remains a dedicated soldier ready to serve in defence of motherland,” the book notes.
Lance Corporal Lang’at, a member of the D Company 9KR, was among the KDF troops who fought through hell and fire when a vehicle fitted with a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) breached through the El-Adde defences after unsuccessful efforts to stop the vehicle with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) fire.
FRESH DETAILS
“At around 5.15 a.m. on January 15, a vehicle’s headlights briefly flashed in the base’s direction and then turned off. Within no time, the engine ignited and a vehicle hurtled towards the FOB,” he recalls.
The narration by Lance Corporal Lang’at and other soldiers provides fresh details about a battle in which a number of KDF men are still missing in action to date.
Some of those still missing include seven soldiers who withdrew from the base after holding onto it became untenable.
The mission was a daring one in which KDF pilots fired on al-Shabaab militants armed with anti-aircraft weapons until they ran out of ammunition.
“We were a team of three aircraft, two MD500 and a Z9WE. About 10 nautical miles to El-Adde, I saw thick smoke rising to the sky and from a distance looters could be seen removing stuff from the FOB. As soon as we attained effective range, I noticed flashes of exploding anti-aircraft rounds very close to our helicopter’s wind screen,” Captain Samwel Gaiti, a pilot with the Joint Helicopter Command, writes about the El-Adde daring combat search and rescue mission.
SCAMPERED
Captain Gaiti acknowledges that they had to change their focus from attack to a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operation so as to rescue the soldiers who had survived the attack.
Among the first to be rescued were three soldiers who had called for help from a maize plantation located six kilometres west of El-Adde town.
“We were flying around El-Adde and evading anti-aircraft fire while maintaining a visual lookout when, suddenly, we saw four vehicles being towed away from the FOB. We engaged and neutralised the enemy as a result of which they scampered into the bushes, abandoning the vehicles,” Captain Gaiti recalls.
In some of the instances, some of the soldiers were told to wait for another trip before they could be rescued due to the limited carrying capacity.
ENEMY FIRE
“It was not easy to convince those remaining to wait for the next set of helicopters… We continued to rescue more soldiers that day, flying low while evading the imminent anti-aircraft fire, mainly from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms,” he recalls.
While Captain Gaiti says that it was hectic flying seven hours a day every day under enemy fire, the effort was well worth it.
