ESAT News (July 14, 2017)
United States and Somali military forces raided a rebel-held village in southern Somalia and killed several al-Shabaab fighters early Thursday, a senior Somali intelligence official said, as both countries step up efforts against Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Somali commandos accompanied by U.S. forces in two helicopters raided two locations, the official said. They included a detention center run by al-Shabaab in Kunya-Barrow village in Lower Shabelle region, and an unknown number of detainees were freed, according to the report.
The report said troops engaged a small number of extremist fighters, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
U.S. Africa Command spokesman Mark Cheadle said U.S. forces conducted an “advise and assist mission” against al-Shabaab with members of the Somali National Army in Kunya-Barrow. He gave no further details.
There were no U.S. casualties, AFRICOM spokeswoman Jennifer Dyrcz added Friday morning.
The Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab said via its Andalus radio arm that its fighters foiled an attempted raid by U.S. and African forces.