...KABOOM!...
s targeting al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
Death Eaters within Somalia, just a few weeks after the group stormed Æthiopia, causing anxiety within the region.
In a statement, the US Africa Command said in coordination with the Somali National Army, it targeted the Death Eaters near Beletweyne town in the Hiran region, Central Somalia, where the Death Eaters have been dominating for the last couple of years.
The airstrikes, AFRICOM added, took place on Tuesday, and left at least four al-Shabaab Death Eaters dead. This was the third airstrike in Somalia since February 2022 and it comes after Biden authorized AFRICOM last May to re-start the counter-terrorism in the country.
"The command’s initial assessment is that the strikes killed four al-Shabaab turbans and that no civilians were maimed or killed. U.S. forces are authorized to conduct strikes in defense of designated partner forces," the statement noted.
The Federal Government of Somalia and U.S. Africa Command, the statement further read, "take great measures to prevent civilian casualties. These efforts contrast with the indiscriminate attacks that al-Shabaab regularly conducts against the civilian population".
In recent weeks, the US has reaffirmed support to the country in the fight against al-Shabaab, including through the deployment of about 500 special forces. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has repeatedly pledged to invest resources in the fight against the holy warriors.