The US military says it conducted an airstrike in Somalia on Tuesday targeting an al-Shabaab vehicle, adding that there were no civilian casualties in the strike.
“In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike against an al-Shabaab vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in the early morning hours of Dec. 12, approximately 65 kilometers southwest of the capital, Mogadishu,” a statement from the US Africa Command said.
The statement did not however say if there were any militants killed in the attack.
U.S. Conducts Airstrike in Support of the Federal Government of Somalia – https://t.co/G5IDm20Wld pic.twitter.com/A8aX66idSx
— US AFRICOM (@USAfricaCommand) December 12, 2017
U.S. forces have carried out a series of drone strikes in the past months in Somalia, targeting Islamist State and al-Shabaab fighters as the Africa Union peacekeeping mission prepares to exit the country.
Local forces and those of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have also intensified military operations against the insurgents, flushing them in their Lower and Middle Shabelle region bases, amid an expected pullout of 1,000 African Union troops by the end of December.
US Africom in its statement added that it would continue its offensive against the militants in order to disable terrorist threats in the Horn of Africa region.
It also said that it would partner “with AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) in combined counterterrorism operations and targeting terrorists, their training camps, and their safe havens throughout Somalia and the region.”
Al-Shabaab has waged a near-decade war in Somalia, seeking to topple the government and instill a strict sharia-based system of governance. The war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions others to flee their homes.
