Islamist insurgents in Somalia launched a deadly suicide bomb attack inside an African Union peacekeeping base on Thursday in what they said was revenge for the US killing of an al-Qaeda suspect in the country earlier this week.

Witnesses said they saw several bodies at the site after members of the al-Shabaab militia, which has links to al-Qaeda, reportedly drove two vehicles with United Nations markings into the AU compound and detonated explosives crammed inside.