Washington: The US military conducted a strike that killed two militants of Al-Shabaab (affiliated with the al-Qaeda terrorist group, banned in Russia), the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said on Thursday amid reports of the death of one of Al-Shabaab’s leaders.
“The command’s initial assessment is that the strike killed two al-Shabaab militants and no civilians were harmed,” AFRICOM said, adding that the strike was conducted on December 24 in coordination with the government of Somalia.
Somalian newspaper Garowe said earlier on Thursday, citing the Al-Shabaab’s statement, that one of its leaders, Mohamed Mire, was eliminated. The extremist was killed allegedly on Wednesday morning, according to the report.
Al-Shabaab is a Somalia-based jihadist militant group linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia). It wages armed resistance against the Somali government and obstructs UN humanitarian missions in the country.
