The United States military has confirmed that it carried out another airstrike against al-Shabab militants, its third in less than two weeks.
Sunday’s strike was in support of Somali government forces in the vicinity of Qeycad, in the central Galmudug state, according to the U.S. military.
The Somali government earlier reported the strike was in an area where federal and U.S.-trained forces were fighting the militants. There was no word on whether militants were injured or killed.
“This is another major blow to al-Shabab’s means to wage war against the Somali people,” a statement by the Information Ministry of Somalia said.
“The airstrikes destroyed a large al-Shabab firing position engaging Danab and SNA (Somali National Army) forces as they approached,” the statement added.
Danab or “lightning” are Somali commandos trained by the U.S.
Both the U.S. and Somali government said there were no civilian casualties.
Al-Shabab, however, said in a statement published online that government forces, supported by the United States, did not succeed in Sunday’s fighting.
Previous airstrikes took place July 20 and 23 in the same vicinity.
These are the first airstrikes against al-Shabab in Somalia since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January.
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