US military: No casualties in Al-Shabaab raid

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The US Africa Command has dismissed reports that its troops were injured in an attack targeting them while on a convoy, moments after the militants claimed to have killed several soldiers in Thursday's assault.

In a Telegram messaging service, the Al-Shabaab militants claimed to have inflicted casualties on the US troops who were in a convoy within the outskirts of Kismayo port city, the regional administrative capital of Jubaland state of Somalia.

The claims of casualties “are not accurate,” AFRICOM spokesperson Kelly Cahalan said Thursday in a statement. The convoy hit a roadside bomb Thursday morning near Kismayo, Cahalan said, adding that there also were no casualties among the Somali forces.

For over a decade, the group is known to be selling fear by propagating propaganda, but at times, they have managed to attack the US Africa Command soldiers and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] stationed in the country.

Three years ago, the militants attacked a US Naval Base in Manda Bay, Kenya, killing one soldier and two US citizens who were on duty. The attack was followed by the unprecedented withdrawal of US troops from Somalia during Donald Trump's administration but Joe Biden has since reinstated them.

In 2019, the militants waged an attack on US Africa Command at Balligodle air base in Somalia, but elite Danab Special Forces managed to thwart the attack. A subsequent battle left hundreds of Al-Shabaab militants dead, Pentagon had claimed.

The U.S. military mission in Somalia revolves around training and advising local forces fighting against al-Shabab. Several hundred U.S. troops operate in the country. The U.S. also carries out periodic airstrikes against terrorist targets there.

Within the Defense Department and beyond, there is a running debate about the threat al-Shabab poses to the West and the merits of having U.S. military involvement in Somalia, Stripes.Com magazine reports.

The Somali National Army, ATMIS, US Africa Command, and local militia are targeting the last assault on Al-Shabaab in Jubaland and Southwest states, and the plan has triggered sporadic attacks from the militants. Al-Shabaab has lost significant territories in the last seven months following the first phase of operations against them.

GAROWE ONLINE