The United States Africa Command on Wednesday confirmed it has resumed airstrikes against the al-Shabab Islamist group in Somalia.
As per reports, the aerial bombardment, which was carried out on Tuesday near Jilib, a town in Somalia’s Middle Juba region, southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, killed one Al-Shabaab militant, reported Africom.
“Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this air strike,” the report added.
The airstrike has resumed after a brief pause that followed accusations from Amnesty International condemning civilian casualties during the attacks.
Last month, an Amnesty International report claimed that 14 civilians had been killed and seven wounded in the course of five air raids between April 2017 and December 2018, all attributed to the US military.
The report was released as the US military stepped up its operations in Somalia, carrying out 28 air raids since the beginning of 2019, compared to 47 in 2018 and 35 in 2017. According to figures released by US Africa Command, at least 253 fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated group have been killed in 29 airstrikes so far in 2019.
Notably, news of the airstrike comes on the same day that Somalia’s Prime Minister Hassan Khayre met with President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton at the White House on Wednesday.
“Pleased to have hosted Somali PM Khayre today,” Bolton wrote on Twitter on Wednesday following their meeting. “I congratulated him on Somalia’s economic reforms and urged sustained engagement on this front. We discussed ways to deepen the strong US-Somalia partnership on critical issues, including counterterrorism and regional stability.”
The United States is reportedly in support of Somali government’s military campaign and the African Union (AU) mission against Al-Shabaab, which is fighting to overthrow the internationally backed government in Somalia. It is estimated that Al-Shabaab commands somewhere between 5,000 to 7,000 fighters and controls about 20% of Somalia’s territory.
