KAMPALA, Uganda, July 31:  Uganda's military says 12 of its soldiers were killed in an ambush Sunday by al-Shabab Islamic extremists in southern Somalia.

Uganda's Ministry of Defense said in a statement Monday that seven other Ugandan troops were injured in the attack in Lower Shabelle region.

Ugandan troops are deployed to Somalia as peacekeepers under the banner of the African Union. Ugandan authorities say they were conducting a joint patrol with Somali forces when they were attacked.

There is no word yet on any casualties among the Somali forces.

Al-Shabab claims it killed 39 soldiers.

The attack came hours after a car bomb in Somalia's capital killed at least five people, most of them civilians, shattering a month of relative calm in Mogadishu.

 
• uganda
 
• somalia ambush
 
• 12 killed