An airstrike targeting al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab in Somalia killed three people on April 5, 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 militants near Jilib, Somalia, the afternoon of April 5, killing three (3) terrorists and destroying one (1) vehicle with a mounted heavy machine gun,” Africom said in a Friday, April 6 release.
“We assess no civilians were killed in this airstrike,” the release added.
Jilib is one of the most populous towns in southern Somalia, located about 370 kilometers (230 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu.
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 eight strikes targeting al-Shabaab, but a media relations official with the command recently told the Long War Journal that the U.S. has conducted three other strikes in the country this year.
On Sunday, heavily armed al-Shabaab militants attacked an AMISOM military camp where Ugandan forces are stationed in the Bulo Marer district, around 130km (81 miles) south of Mogadishu. The attack was coordinated with other attacks on bases in Quoryole and Golwein and reportedly left dozens dead and injured. The Ugandan military said four soldiers were killed.
