US Claims Over 100 al-Shabaab Militants Killed in Somalia Airstrike
There are a soaring amount of continuing US Airstrikes Across Somalia.
(The AEGIS Alliance) – US soldiers have mainly operated in Somalia to provide assistance and training for local forces. But US special operations forces also continue to rotate into and out of Somalia, conducting counter terrorism operations according to defense officials.
The United States continues to expand its military operations in the nation of Somalia. Officials reported Tuesday that they had killed over One-Hundred “al-Shabaab militants” during a single airstrike while targeting what was suspected to be a training camp.
Details regarding this airstrike still aren’t completely clear, but was known to have taken place around 125 miles northwest of Mogadishu, the capital city. This attack has been described as being within the Bay region, which has been targeted regularly.
According to US officials, the airstrike was conducted with coordination from Somalia’s federal government. Somali media made claims that their own military sent ground troops to the site. This is the most recent of at least eight airstrikes the United States has carried out in Somalia during November alone, the highest level in the nation in years by far. Early November has seen a decided uptick in US led airstrikes in Somalia.
Al-Shabaab denied such an incident happened, staying it was “just propaganda” from the US. They have been the target of almost all US strikes taking place in Somalia this year.
29 strikes have been acknowledged by the Pentagon this year so far. Seven of those strikes took place between 9th and 14th of November.
Earlier in November, US military also conducted its first strikes against Islamic State militants inside Somalia and says “several terrorists” were killed.
al-Shabaab is an al Qaeda-linked insurgent group that desires to topple the United Nations backed Somali government. It also wants the African Union peacekeeping troops to be driven out and impose its own harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
