Five al-Shabaab militants were killed in a U.S. airstrike in Somalia, officials announced Thursday.
The “collective self-defense” airstrike was conducted at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia in a remote region, roughly 15 kilometers south of Galcad, according to a statement from U.S. Africa Command. The action came in support of the Somalia National Army, who were “engaged” by the al-Shabaab terror group. No civilians were injured or killed during the operation, according to the statement.
Al-Shabaab is one of the largest and “most kinetically active al-Qaeda network in the world and has proved both its will and capability to attack partner and U.S. forces and threaten U.S. security interests,” the statement reads. President Joe Biden in 2022 permitted the Pentagon to deploy less than 500 U.S. troops to Somalia in an effort to combat the terror group, CNN reported.
At the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted a collective self-defense airstrike in a remote area near Hareeri Kalle, approximately 15 kilometers south of Galcad, Somalia against al-Shabaab terrorists. https://t.co/6I3gzuHxKI
— US AFRICOM (@USAfricaCommand) July 20, 2023
“We have seen, regrettably, clear evidence that al-Shabaab has the intent and capability to target Americans,” a senior administrative official said in 2022, according to CNN. The same year, Somalia declared “total war” on al-Shabaab, who were reportedly trying to install an Islamist government and impose fundamental laws on the African nation.
In December 2022, U.S. Africa Command killed 17 al-Shabaab members in a strike in remote Somalia, some 300 kilometers from the nation’s capital of Mogadishu. (RELATED: Terrorist Organization Bans Major Social Media Platform, Limiting Connection With Outside World)
Al-Shabaab was said to be responsible for the “most of the severe human rights abuses, particularly terrorist attacks on civilians and targeted killings, including extrajudicial, and religiously and politically motivated killings; disappearances; cruel and unusual punishment; rape; and attacks on employees of nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations,” according to the U.S. State Department, which designated the group a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.