US airstrike in Somalia kills 52 al-Shabaab fighters, military says

Associated Press in Johannesburg
Sat 19 Jan 2019 19.18 GMT

The US military said it carried out an airstrike in Somalia that killed 52 al-Shabaab extremists, in response to an attack on Somali forces.

Al-Shabaab controls large parts of rural southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out high-profile attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere. The group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on a luxury hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday.

A US Africa Command statement said the airstrike occurred on Saturday near Jilib in Middle Juba region. The US said Somali forces had come under attack by a “large group” of the al-Qaida-linked extremists.

The statement did not say how many Somali forces were killed or wounded. There were no reports of Americans killed or wounded.

Al-Shabaab asserted via its Shahada news agency that its attack on two Somali army bases killed at least 41 soldiers. It described the location as the Bar Sanjuni area near the port city of Kismayo.

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