At least 180 Kenyan soldiers were killed in El Adde when al-Shabaab militants attacked their base last month, the Somali President says.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s figure is one of the first confirmations of the casualties since the January 15 predawn attack from an official source to be broadcast anywhere.
But the numbers were promptly rubbished by the KDF spokesman, Col David Obonyo.
President Mohamud, in an interview with Somali language Mogadishu-based Horn Cable TV, said: “When 180 or close to 200 soldiers who were sent to us are killed in one day in Somalia, it’s not easy.”
He went on: “The soldiers have been sent to Somalia to help us get peace in our country, and their families are convinced that they died while on duty.”
KDF has declined to release the number of casualties in the attack. Some of the wounded were flown back days after the attack while some are believed to be missing in action.
But Obonyo accused the President of “trivialising” the matter. “I have never talked to any media house about the death toll. I dissociate myself from the utterances made. Everybody is affected by this,” Obonyo said.
But the fact that the massacre happened inside Somalia will be taken to mean President Mohamud’s figures have considerable credibility.
The President gave the interview after he faced pressure from Somalis in and out of the country accusing him of favouring foreign soldiers while not dedicating time and resources to his own soldiers.
President Mohamud joined President Kenyatta and Nigeria's President Mohammed Buhari in Eldoret to mourn and honour the soldiers.
Obonyo said that although the Somali president attended the memorial service for the fallen heroes in Eldoret, no one discussed with him the number of dead soldiers.
“It is the Somalia President who has given the figures and we don't know where he got them. We have talked about the size of the company and over 40 soldiers survived the attack. The figure has not come from us. We have no knowledge where the number came from. Please ask him where he got the number,” Col Obonyo said.