Somali-US airstrike in battle with al-Shabab

The US and Somalia have carried out an airstrike in opposition to Islamist militants throughout a battle for management of a strategic central city, the federal government says.

The “well-coordinated” strike on Adan Yabaal, north of the capital Mogadishu, got here hours after al-Shabab raided the city which is used as a key launchpad for army operations.

Among the many 12 militants killed within the airstrike have been a number of senior fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group, the Somali info ministry mentioned in an announcement on X.

The most recent preventing comes amid fears of a jihadist resurgence in Somalia after rising militant assaults, together with one which focused President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy final month.

Al-Shabab, which controls massive components of southern and central Somalia, has been preventing the federal government for practically 20 years. It seeks to overthrow the federal authorities and set up an Islamist state.

The African Union-led peacekeeping pressure helped push the jihadists onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023, however the group stays an enormous risk regardless of quite a few army operations in opposition to it.

The Somali authorities insists the group has been weakened.

The airstrike late on Wednesday by Somali armed forces and the US Africa Command (Africom) “aimed to neutralize the risk posed” by militants, the data ministry mentioned.

“The focused strike hit a website utilized by the militants as a gathering and hideout,” it mentioned, including: “Importantly there have been no civilian casualties.”

Adan Yabaal, within the Center Shabelle area, was seized by al-Shabab in 2016 earlier than being recaptured by authorities forces in 2022.

Heavy preventing broke out early on Wednesday after al-Shabab fighters raided the city, utilizing heavy explosives.

Later the group mentioned it had captured the city. Two native residents instructed AFP information company that militants had taken management of Adan Yabaal.

The federal government didn’t say who was at the moment answerable for the city.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud visited the city final month and met army commanders, underscoring its strategic significance within the combat in opposition to the militants.

In a separate incident, the nationwide military mentioned it killed at the least 35 fighters close to town of Baidoa on Thursday, after they tried to assault a military base there, the ministry mentioned.

President Mohamud has downplayed the al-Shabab advances, saying that occasional battlefield setbacks have been inevitable. He has maintained that his authorities was decided to defeat the militants.