It remains the deadliest attack on the African Union Mission to Somalia and is the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) largest defeat since independence in 1963.

[21] According to Abas Ibrahim Gurey, a Marehan war leader in the area who often cooperates with the Somali authorities, clear and reliable intelligence of an imminent attack had been passed along to the commanding officer in charge of the El Adde base, 45 days in advance.

[22][10][23] On 15 January, at 6:30 a.m before morning prayers, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive laden armoured personnel carrier to the front gate to an AMISOM garrison base in El-Adde, Gedo, Somalia.

At approximately 7:30 a.m, the battle lasted for more than one hour of fierce fighting,[2][6] until Kenyan troops were routed from the base and fled into the dense bush pursued by Al Shabaab militants.

[24][28] It was initially reported that the SNA base came under assault and Kenyan troops were supporting the Somali Army and that the KDF had incurred unspecified losses.

[10] According to the Cable News Network (CNN), "The apparent ease with which the militants breached barriers at El Adde has surprised many security analysts -- especially since the same style of assault had been seen before in bloody attacks on AMISOM forces."

[29][30] Later al-Katāi’b Media associated with Al-Shabaab, released a 48-minute-long propaganda video showing the bodies of at least 63 dead KDF soldiers and captured military hardware, including several tanks and long range field artillery.

[30][32][33] A new death toll from available open source information indicates that ranges from 141 to around 200 Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta expressed his condolences to the families and vowed militants would pay a heavy price for the attack.

[36] In a later interview with Somali Cable TV, he described the attack as a "defeat" in a line of victories and put the KDF death toll at close to 200 to around 600 fatalities.

[20] On 22 January, the alleged mastermind of the El Adde attack and leader of the Al Shabaab "Abu Zubair battalion", Maalim Janow, was killed in retaliatory airstrikes according to Kenya's military.

[3][6] According to CNN, "to prevent details of what happened at El Adde from emerging, Kenya's government used a rarely enforced law prohibiting the distribution of images or information likely to cause public fear and alarm or undermine security operations.

"Although they cite national security reasons, what they end up doing is creating an opportunity for Al-Shabaab to propagandize their victories, perhaps exaggerate them," said Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.

"The AU [African Union] would be better served by contesting the Al-Shabaab narrative, not ceding ground to it," said Paul D. Williams, Associate Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University, who specializes in reporting on peacekeeping missions.