The US army says it conducted two airstrikes in the Somali vicinity of Gandarshe on Saturday, killing 62 al-Shabaab militants.
The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said on Monday that the strikes were conducted in coordination with local Somali authorities, and did not injure or kill any civilians.
“Alongside our Somali and international partners, we are committed to preventing al-Shabaab from taking advantage of safe havens from which they can build capacity and attack the people of Somalia. In particular, the group uses portions of southern and central Somalia to plot and direct terror attacks, steal humanitarian aid, extort the local populace to fund its operations, and shelter radical terrorists,” AFRICOM said in a statement.
The agency pledged to continue collaborating with Somali forces to disable the threat of terrorism posed by al-Shabaab.
The al-Qaeda affiliated group has waged an extremist war in Somalia for over a decade, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions others.
The U.S. forces and African Union troops have been deployed in the Horn of African country to battle the militant group. While the U.S. initially engaged the militants minimally, President Donald Trump granted broader authority to carry out strikes after coming into power.
Al-Shabaab Forces Degraded by U.S., Federal Government of Somalia – https://t.co/f3XjSWzsAF pic.twitter.com/zQvfPJxgJH
— US AFRICOM (@USAfricaCommand) December 17, 2018
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