Series of US air strikes kills 62 al-Shabab militants in Somalia, Pentagon says
- The six US air strikes carried out over the weekend were the deadliest in Somalia since November last year
The US military said Monday it has killed 62 militants from the jihadist al-Shabab movement in six air strikes in Somalia.
Four strikes on Saturday killed 34 militants and another two on Sunday killed 28, the US Africa Command said in a statement.
The air attacks, in a coastal region south of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, were the deadliest in the country since November last year when the US said it had killed 100 militants.
The strikes were conducted with “our Somali partners to prevent terrorists from using remote areas as safe havens to plot, direct, inspire and recruit for future attacks,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said, noting that no civilians had been killed or injured.
The action brings to 45 the number of strikes the Pentagon has conducted against Shabaab so far in 2018, Manning said.