U.S. airstrikes target Al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia

The American forces state the ‘initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed’ in the strike on stolen military equipment

Southwest of Mogadishu, the U.S destroyed Al-Shabaab positions that housed stolen military equipment, a night after the Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group attacked a nearby African Union (AU) base.

The U.S. Africa Command said it “destroyed weapons and equipment unlawfully taken by Al-Shabaab fighters,” the statement, however, did not say if it was stolen the night before. The American forces stated the “initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed.”

On Friday, an AU military base that housed Ugandan soldiers, who were supporting the fight against jihadis in the area, was ambushed by Al-Shabaab militants with an explosive-laden car. Local residents and a Somali military commander told AFP by telephone that there was also a firefight and “the terrorists were forced to retreat and flee.”
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The number of casualties at the base was mired in different reports. Al-Shabaab claimed it overwhelmed the base and inflicted a large number of casualties, but Somali military commander Mohamed Yerow Hassan told AFP that the attackers had been repelled and the “situation is back to normal now.”

The AU force, known as ATMIS, was established to support the Somali government and launched an offensive last August against Al-Shabaab. The jihadi terrorist organization have plagued the country for over 15 years.

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Bringing together soldiers from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, the AU deployed troops in southern and central Somalia, their goal is that Somalia’s army and police will replace them by 2024.

The war torn country has suffered famine, droughts and even floods. UN chief Antonio Guterres called on the world to ramp up funding to the Horn of Africa, which is suffering its worst drought in generations and experiencing mass displacement.

Source: i24news