NAIROVI: The toll from twin suicide car bombings at the African Union’s (AU) main peacekeeping base in Somalia rose to 21 today, including 17 peacekeepers, an AU spokesman said.

It was the deadliest single attack on AU peacekeepers since they arrived in 2007. Islamic insurgents posing as UN personnel detonated suicide car bombs yesterday at the peacekeepers’ main base to avenge a US commando raid on Monday that killed a key al-Qaida operative, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. Al-Shabab, a powerful Islamist group with foreign fighters in its ranks, claimed responsibility. About 40 others were wounded in attack, said Gaffel Nkolokosa, the spokesman for the African Union Mission for Somalia. He said the toll could rise.

A counterstrike from the AU base killed at least seven people. France said Friday it has evacuated 17 wounded people to Nairobi, Kenya, where they were hospitalised. It did not indicate the nationalities of the injured or the nature of their injuries.Thursday’s suicide attack underscored links between al-Qaida’s terror network and Somalia’s homegrown insurgency. Many fear this impoverished and lawless African nation is becoming a haven for al-Qaida - a place for terrorists to train and plan attacks elsewhere.