Tuesday December 17, 2019
MOGADISHU (HOL) - A US airstrike hit Al-Shabaab targets in Middle Jubba Monday, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has said.
AFRICOM said in a statement the strike at Dujuuma vicinity in the Middle Jubba region killed one Al-Shabab fighter and that initial assessments indicated there were no civilian casualties.“The removal of al-Shabaab terrorists increases the security of the Somali people as these terrorists indiscriminately attack and extort innocent civilians and destabilize the elected government,” said U.S.
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Bradford J. Gering, deputy director of operations, U.S. Africa Command.
The strike adds to over 50 airborne offensives against Al-Shabaab and ISIS targets in Somalia since the beginning of the year denying the militants ground movements.
The strike comes barely a week after a similar one in Saakow which AFRICOM said it killed one Al-Shabaab members.
The US has ramped up airstrikes against Al-Shabaab following wider latitude to the military by the Trump administration in 2017 which also declared parts of Somalia ‘active war zones’.