US Airstrikes Kill 27 al-Shabab Militants in Somalia

United States military airstrikes in northern Somalia have killed at least 27 members of the militant al-Shabab organization according to military officials. The several drone strikes against the militants are the second strike the U.S. has conducted in the past week.

The statement issued Monday by the U.S. Africa Command said it assesses that no civilians were killed in the attack on Sunday about 26 miles southwest of Bosasso, the commercial capital of the semiautonomous Puntland state.

The area has recently seen attacks on local forces by extremists aligned with the Islamic State group.

The Trump administration approved expanded military operations against extremists in Somalia, including al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida and was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October that killed more than 500 people.

And elsewhere in Somalia, at least 10 people were killed on Tuesday morning when Al-Shabaab and government clashed in the Gedo region town of Bardheere, Radio Dalsan reports. Two government soldiers and eight militants were killed in the fighting according to an official of Gedo region. Al-Shabaab had attempted to overrun the Bardheere Military camp but failed to succeed in executing the attack.

SNA displayed a captured militant.

The Al-qaeda linked group has intensified its activities since last Friday when they attacked the Hiraan region’s Moqokori town where it claimed tens of SNA soldiers were killed. The group displayed bodies purported to be government soldiers. The town was recaptured on Saturday.

On the same day in Puntland’s Balikhadar area the militants attacked a military camp killing 5 soldiers. Local authority said at least 40 militants were killed later including 27 in a US airstrike.

AFRICOM said that none of the strikes were assessed to have caused civilian casualties and that the strikes were carried out in coordination with the US-backed Federal Government of Somalia.

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Photo courtesy DOD