By Boluwatife Ezekiel Olaleye
The U.S. military has it that an air strike, targeting an al-Shabaab camp, had killed 100 militants.
The U.S. Africa Command, in a statement, said the strike had been carried out 125 miles (201 km) northwest of the capital, Mogadishu and that the U.S. would continue to target militants.
It revealed that the strike was carried out in co-ordination with Somalia’s federal government.
National Daily reports that the Trump administration has more than doubled the number of U.S. troops in Somalia this year, putting them at the highest level since the 1993 Black Hawk Down episode that left 18 Americans dead.
There are now more than 500 U.S. troops stationed in the east African country ravaged by civil war as the U.S seeks to expand its military commanders’ authority in the battle against jihadis in Africa.
The U.S. is also transporting more troops to Somalia to advise and train Somali troops in a bid to combat radical Islamists who have long operated in the failed state.
Aside ramping up its troop presence in the country, the U.S. military, since the beginning of 2017, has also conducted 28 drone strikes against radical Islamists in Somalia.
The strikes have predominantly targeted Al-Shabab, the group affiliated with Al-Qaeda that has been waging an insurgency against the Somali government since 2006.
U.S. officials are also concerned about a growing presence of the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group in the country, and a potential influx of ISIS fighters into the country as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria.
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