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A US military air strike killed 18 al-Shabab extremists after US and local forces on the ground were attacked in southern Somalia, the US command in Africa said Saturday.
No US or Somali forces were killed or wounded in the attack, AFRICOM spokesman Nate Herring told The Associated Press. The airstrike took place Friday in self-defense after extremists were "observed maneuvering on a combined patrol", while the United States also responded with "indirect fire," said the door. Floor-.
The confrontation occurred about 31 miles northwest of the port city of Kismayo, according to the US command release in Africa. Two other extremists from al-Shabab were killed by Somali forces "with small arms fire during the engagement," the statement said.
The operation was led by Somalis, said AFRICOM spokesman. The Somali authorities have not made any immediate comment.
The United States has carried out more than 20 airstrikes this year against al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in sub-Saharan Africa.
The US military's involvement in Somalia has increased since President Donald Trump approved, early in his term, the expansion of operations against al-Shabab. Dozens of drone strikes followed. At the end of last year, the army also conducted its first air attack against a small presence of ISIS fighters in northern Somalia.
Since the expansion of operations, two US servicemen have been killed in Somalia.
A member of the service was killed in May 2017 during an operation about 40 miles west of Mogadishu. And in June, a US special operations soldier was killed and four US forces were wounded in an "enemy attack" as Somali and Kenyan troops were fired with mortar and small arms at Jubaland .
The United States currently has about 500 troops in the Horn of Africa.
Al-Shabab, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, has been driven out of Mogadishu in recent years but continues to control rural areas in the southern and central regions. Its fighters continue to attack the bases of a multinational force of the African Union that remains largely responsible for security as the fragile Somali central government tries to recover from decades of chaos.
In the coming years, Somali forces should assume responsibility for the country's security as the force of the AU withdraws. Concerns about their readiness remain high, and the US Security Council recently voted to postpone the target date of transfer to December 2021.
