US confirms carrying airstrikes against Al-Shabaab

GOOBJOOG/MOGADISHU: U.S. Africa Command has issued a statement saying it had conducted air strikes against Al-Shabaab militants after they attacked US-trained Somali special forces in a remote location in south Somalia.

The revelation from AFRICOM comes a day after Somalia National Army Chief Gen. Odawa Yusuf said that together with SNA’s ‘partner forces’, had on Wednesday launched airstrikes targeting Al-Shabaab’s hideouts leading to the killing of over 60 insurgents, including the group’s leaders.

The airstrike by the U.S. Africa Command Forces, the first in 2022 after the Trump administration withdrew its troops from Somalia, targeted Al-Shabaab fighters in Dububle after they attacked Somali partner forces on Tuesday.

“U.S forces are authorized to conduct strikes in support of combatant commander-designated partner forces under the 2001 Authorization of Use for Military Force,” the Command said.

The U.S Africa Command pointed out that the Somali  Federal Government and the U.S. prided themselves in fighting Al-Shabaab to prevent the deaths of civilians, unlike the group which regularly conducts indiscriminate attacks on civilian population.

A battle damage assessment is still pending. The command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this air strike,” said the U.S. Africa Command.

The re-emergence of U.S. airstrikes is a welcome relief in the war against the Somalia-based terror group which has scaled up attacks across the country, with the latest attack in Beletweyne causing the deaths of 15 civilians and injuring at least 20 others.