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Oct 17 - U.S Drone strike wipes out Al-Shabaab camp, over 70 dead.



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Oct 17 - U.S Drone strike wipes out Al-Shabaab camp, over 70 dead.
 

 
It also came just before the first anniversary Sunday of a truck bombing that left more than 500 dead in Mogadishu, the worst ever attack in Somalia blamed on Al-Shabaab.

Somali intelligence officials say the largest US military airstrike against al-Shabaab extremists in Somalia in nearly a year largely destroyed a training camp where recruits were preparing to graduate and ki1led more fighters than the US announced.

Two officials tell The Associated Press that several missiles were fired on Friday by two unmanned US drones.

Some of the freshly trained al-Shabaab recruits were "burnt beyond recognition" and the death toll exceeds 75, one official said. The US Africa Command on Tuesday said about 60 extremists had been ki1led.

The US said the strike was meant to deny the al-Qaeda-linked extremist group, the deadliest in sub-Saharan Africa, the ability to reconsolidate. Al-Shabaab has several thousands of fighters and has proven to be resilient over the years, carrying out su1cide bombings on high-profile targets in the capital, Mogadishu, and other cities as well as more conventional attacks against Somali, US and African Union forces.

Some of the al-Shabaab fighters ki1led in the US airstrike, who had gone through months of training, were being prepared to carry out su1cide bombings on Somali and AU bases while others were foot soldiers meant for complex attacks across central and southern Somalia, one of the Somali intelligence officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters.

The US airstrike outside the al-Shabaab-controlled seaside community of Harardere in Mudug province in Somalia's central region was the deadliest since one on November 21, 2017, against a camp ki1led about 100 al-Shabaab fighters.

No civilian casualties have been reported in the latest airstrike which officials say hit only the intended target in a rural area. "Al-Shabaab don't usually trust people nor would they allow them to come closer to their military sites," one of the Somali officials said.

The strike dealt a "painful blow" to al-Shabaab, the officials said.

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But the camp's location far north of the extremist group's usual strongholds indicates its reach, analysts said.

"A large concentration of Shabaab fighters a significant distance from its typical support zone in Jubba River Valley demonstrates the al-Qaeda branch's resilience across the country," wrote Bill Roggio and Alexandra Gutowski for the Foundation for Defence of Democracies' Long war Journal.

Somalia on Sunday marked the first anniversary of the worst extremist attack ever in Africa and one of the world's deadliest since 9/11, a truck bombing in Mogadishu that ki1led well over 500 people. A US Africa Command spokesperson said Friday's airstrike had no link to the anniversary.

The US military has carried out more than two dozen airstrikes, including drone strikes, this year against al-Shabaab. The United States has increased its military presence in the long-chaotic Horn of Africa nation since early 2017 to about 500 personnel after President Donald Trump approved expanded military operations.

Al-Shabaab, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, continues to hold parts of the country's south and central regions after being chased out of Mogadishu several years ago.

While some observers have questioned the effectiveness of airstrikes by the US and Kenya and raised concerns about civilians being ki1led, the US military maintains that they "reduce al-Shabaab's ability to plot future attacks, disrupt its leadership networks and degrade its freedom of maneuver within the region."

Somali forces in the next few years are expected to take over responsibility for the country's security from an African Union peacekeeping force, which already has started withdrawing hundreds of personnel.

The US says it continues to support that tr@nsfer even as some US military officials have joined AU officials and others in expressing concern that Somalia's forces are not yet ready


 https://www.news24.com/Af .. s-say-20181017


Last edited by Binary; 10-17-2018 at 02:40 PM..
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