Mogadishu 31 Jul (ANA)  - Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab says it has killed 39 African Union (AU) troops in an ambush on their convoy in the Lower Shabelle region, Reuters news agency reports. The AU failed to give casualty figures but said on its Twitter account that "a lot of damage was inflicted on the enemy while our troops took fatalities". Lower Shabelle deputy governor Ali Nur told Reuters that 23 AU troops and a Somali soldier were killed in Sunday's ambush.(ANA)

FA/ANA/31 July 2017------