An airstrike targeting al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab in Somalia killed two fighters and injured three more on March 19, the U.S. military’s Africa Command said.
“In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab on the morning of March 19 near Mubaarak, Somalia, killing two terrorists, wounding three terrorists, and destroying one vehicle,” Africom said in a Wednesday, March 21 release.
The strike is the latest in an increasing number of U.S. airstrikes against al-Shabaab and Abnaa ul-Calipha, Islamic State’s affiliate in Somalia in recent months. So far in 2018, Africom has issued press releases about six strikes targeting al-Shabaab, but a media relations official with the command told the Long War Journal that the U.S. has conducted nine strikes in the country this year.