Somali-US air strikes kill Al-Shabaab fighters, hit weapons ship, says government

Two joint Somali-US air strikes killed 12 Al-Shabaab fighters in central Somalia and destroyed a ship carrying weapons for the Al-Qaeda-linked group, the Somali government said on Thursday, following recent advances by the Islamists, Reuters has reported.

The air strikes came hours after the group attacked the strategic town of Adan Yabal, which lies about 245 km (150 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, and has been used as an operating base for raids on Al-Shabaab. The group has been waging an insurgency since 2007, seeking to seize power and rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic law, and it has been gaining ground since last month.

Several senior Al-Shabaab fighters were among those killed in an air strike carried out by Somali forces and the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in the Adan Yabal district late on Wednesday, said Somalia’s government. “The targeted strike hit a site used by the militants as a gathering place and hideout,” said the ministry of information on social media, adding that no civilians had been killed in the strike.

A further air strike was conducted by the government and AFRICOM on an unidentified and unflagged ship and smaller support vessels that were believed to be transporting weapons for Al-Shabaab within Somali waters, said the ministry. The vessels were destroyed and those on board were killed, it added.

In a separate incident on Thursday near the south-west city of Baidoa, the national army killed at least 35 Al-Shabaab fighters as they tried to attack a military base there.

Al-Shabaab briefly captured villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu last month, raising fears among residents of the capital that the city could be targeted. Somali forces have recaptured the villages, but the group has continued to advance in the countryside, leading the government to deploy police and prison guards to support the military, soldiers have told Reuters.

The outcome of the heavy fighting that broke out on Wednesday in Adan Yabal was not immediately clear, with government forces and Al-Shabaab giving conflicting accounts of who was in control of the town. According to the group, its forces had overrun ten military installations during the fighting.

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