al-Shabaab militant killed in US airstrike

Members of the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. File picture: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

Members of the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. File picture: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

Published Dec 17, 2019

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Berlin - The US Africa Command (Africom) said it killed a

member of Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab in an airstrike in

Somalia's south on Monday.

Africom said that the strike, carried out in coordination with the

Somalian government, killed one terrorist near Dujuuma, some 350

kilometres south-west of the capital Mogadishu.

"We currently assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result

of this airstrike," a statement by the command said.

"The removal of al-Shabaab terrorists increases the security of the

Somali people as these terrorists indiscriminately attack and extort

innocent civilians and destabilize the elected government," Africom's

deputy director of operations Bradford Gering said.

"The Somali National Army and their partners have made significant

strides in targeting al-Shabaab terrorists in order to deny them the

ability to plot attacks against the people of Somalia," he added.

Al-Shabaab is affiliated with the international al-Qaeda terrorist

network and launches regular attacks within the volatile East African

nation.

Last Wednesday, six people were killed when heavily armed al-Shabaab

fighters attacked an army base some 25 kilometres north of Mogadishu.

A day earlier 11 people, including five militants, died in an attack

on an hotel later claimed by the terrorist group.

dpa

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