US military airstrike kills 13 terrorists in Somalia

The United States military said it killed 13 terrorists in an airstrike targeting an ISIS-Somalia encampment in the Golis Mountains in Somalia on Wednesday.

AFRICOM says the airstrike was conducted in collective self-defense of Somali forces after they were engaged by Al-Shabaab militants during an operation to disrupt the network in the area and bolster local support for the Federal Government of Somalia.

AFRICOM said no civilians were killed or injured in the airstrike but it would release more details as appropriate as a post-strike analysis continues.

“We are supporting our Somali and AMISOM partners with increased, mature intelligence sharing. There is a deliberate campaign underway, that is intelligence-driven, that capitalizes on what we learn during each operation and rapidly leveraging that information to drive the next operation, including discovering where terrorists may be training, massing, and preparing to commit atrocities,” Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, U.S. Africa Command director of intelligence, said.

This is the second airstrike AFRICOM has conducted in Somalia this month. The first one on May 5 killed three al-Shabaab terrorists in the vicinity of Tortoroow.

Somalia has been dogged by Jihadism for more than a decade, perpetrated by the Al-Shabaab militant group. The war waged by the militants has killed thousands and forced millions to flee their homes.