The US military conducted an airstrike in Somalia Tuesday that killed one Al-Shabaab militant, according to US Africa Command. The strike occurred in the vicinity of Jilib, Middle Juba Region, an area that has in the past been a hotbed of Al-Shabaab activity.
News of the strike comes on the same day that Somalia’s Prime Minister Hassan Khayre met with President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton at the White House.
Additionally, the resumed airstrikes in Somalia comes barely a month after reports emerged of civilian casualties from the increased airstrikes in different parts of Somalia against the al-Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab in the Horn of Africa Region.
There has been a substantial upsurge in US airstrikes in Somalia since Trump authorized the military to carry out precision strikes targeting Al-Shabaab in March 2017. Erstwhile to that, the US military was authorized to conduct airstrikes only in defense of advisers on the ground.
