Officials from the Pentagon have confirmed that the U.S. has carried out a successful strike operation against a known terrorist camp in Somalia. According to officials, the strike which involved the use of unmanned and manned aircrafts, killed at least 150 members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group.
According to officials, the airstrikes were conducted at a camp in Raso, which is located about 200 kilometers the capital city of Mogadishu. The officials noted that the attack was carried out as members of the terrorist organization were conducting their training formations, Express reported.
Captain Jeff Davis, the spokesperson for the Pentagon, noted that the agency has been monitoring the actions of the al-Shabaab for some time now since it was believed that the group was planning to launch an attack on U.S. and African or AMISOM forces in the region. Because of this, the airstrike carried out by the U.S. on the group is considered as a defensive move.
"The fighters were there training and were training for a large-scale attack," he said in a statement. We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to U.S and [African Union] forces."
"Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated," Davis attended.
Peter Cook, another spokesperson for the Pentagon, noted that the strike will greatly cripple the operations of al-Shabaab in the region as the camp used to house about 200 militants. In addition to the fatalities, the operation also successfully destroyed the group's training facilities and other essential supplies.
"The removal of these fighters degrades al-Shabaab's ability to meet the group's objective in Somalia, including recruiting new members, establishing bases, and planning attacks on U.S. and AMISOM forces, he said according to the Washington Post.
For some time now, U.S. forces have been targeting al-Shabaab ever since it was declared as a terrorist organization in 2008. Since then, the group has carried out various attacks that mainly targets civilians in the regions. Some of these include the 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall which left 67 people killed.
Then, April of last year, the al-Shabaab fighters killed about 147 students from the Garissa College University in Kenya. According to Fox News, the terrorists singled out Christians during the attack.
