Rwandan officials yesterday offered messages of condolence to their Ugandan counterparts following the brutal attack on Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia which left 12 of them dead on Tuesday.

Uganda maintains a contingent under the AU peacekeeping mission in the war-ravaged Somalia and the attack has been claimed by extremist Somali group Al Shabaab. 

Writting her Twitter handle, Louise Mushikiwabo, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Government Spokesperson, saluted the fallen peacekeepers, saying that they had died for a noble cause.

"Rwanda government, its people express solidarity and sympathy to Uganda for (the) fallen UPDF soldiers in Somalia! Dying so others can live is noble!” she tweeted.

Brig. Gen Nzabamwita, the Defence and Military Spokesperson, also took to social media to express his condolences for  the fallen soldiers whose numbers were initially exaggerated by the radicalised militant group Al Shabaab, according to reports.

He tweeted; "May fallen UPDF gallant soldiers rest in eternal peace, God almighty comfort their families and our UPDF colleagues.”

The attack claimed the lives of 12 Ugandan soldiers who were at their military base of Janale, located 56 miles southeast of the Somalia capital of Mogadishu.