Monday April 17, 2017
US Africa Command said in a release that US military did not conduct any counterterrorism strikes in southwest Somalia on April 14 contrary to what the media has reported.
The US military did not conduct any counterterrorism strikes in southwest Somalia on April 14 contrary to what the media has reported, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a release on Monday.
"The US military did not conduct any kind of kinetic action in that area during the timeframe referenced," the release stated. "The most recent US strike in Somalia was conducted in January 2017."
In March, President Donald Trump gave the green light to a Department of Defense request to increase the number of artillery and air strikes in Somalia against the al-Shabaab terror group (outlawed in Russia).
Somalia has been experiencing violence since the country devolved into civil war in the early 1990s. The state’s collapse provided a breeding ground for warlords, pirates and the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab.
The terror group has been staging numerous attacks in Somalia in an attempt to create an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law.