The U.S. military conducted an airstrike over the weekend against the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, which was attacking Somali National Army forces near Buulobarde, Hiran region of central Somalia.
According to U.S. Africa Command, the precision strike occurred about 218 kilometers north-northwest of Mogadishu with the initial assessment showing that it killed two Al-Shabaab terrorists, adding that no civilians were injured or killed in the strike. This appears to be the 10th strike by U.S. forces in Somalia in so far this year (2022). That’s compared to 11 such strikes in 2021 and 44 in 2020.
Al-Shabaab is the largest and most kinetically active Al-Qaeda terrorist network in the world and has proved both its will and capability to attack U.S. forces and threaten U.S. security interests as well as its allies.
The U.S. airstrike is one in a series of such attacks in recent months. In September, a U.S. airstrike killed more 27 Al-Shabaab terrorists in the same region, AFRICOM claimed. The strike took place in the same region, near Buulobarde of Hiran region, central Somalia that of late has witnessed surge in terrorist attacks.
In August, the U.S. also launched a series of strikes on Al-Shabaab targets in Somalia, killing an estimated 13 militants, according to AFRICOM.
U.S. Africa Command, alongside its partners, such as ATMIS continues to take action to prevent this malicious terrorist group from planning and conducting attacks on civilians in the war-torn Somalia. US airstrikes are very instrumental in disrupting the Al-Shabaab’s networks, plans and movements from across regions of Somalia.
