A U.S. service member suffered a concussion injury from Monday’s attack by
the terrorist group al-Shabab at a U.S. military airfield in Somalia, according
to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
In the aftermath of the attack, defence officials reported that there were no injuries or casualties at the Baledogle Military Airfield. However, on Tuesday AFRICOM officials clarified that one U.S. service member suffered a concussion injury.
The attack on Baledogle Military Airfield was one of two attacks conducted
by al-Shabab in Somalia on Monday.
In the attack on the U.S military airfield, a suicide car bomber detonated
a vehicle packed with explosives at the airstrip gate, according to Yusuf
Abdourahman, a regional administrative security official. The U.S. military
conducted a self-defense airstrike in response to the attack, killing 10
militants, according to an AFRICOM news release on Monday.
The second attack — also a suicide car bomber — targeted Italian
peacekeepers in the state capital of Mogadishu. The explosion missed the
European Union peacekeepers, but there were reports that some Somali civilians
were injured in the attack. AFRICOM disclosed that there was another airstrike
in the country on Tuesday targeting one al-Shabab militant in a separate part
of Somalia.
“This strike demonstrates that U.S. and Somali forces will continue to
take every opportunity to counter and degrade the capacity of al-Shabab to plan
and conduct attacks,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Chris Karns, AFRICOM
spokesman.
In total, the U.S. military has conducted 54 airstrikes against the Islamic
State and al-Shabab in Somalia this year. Forty-three of those have targeted
al-Shabab militants specifically. The pace of those strikes is expected to
eclipse last year’s total of 47 strikes against al-Shabab.
AFRICOM officials have attributed the high number of strikes to the
increased partnership between U.S. and Somali forces, not an increase in the
terror group’s capabilities.
There are between 650 and 800 U.S. troops in Somalia at any given time,
mainly training and advising Somali forces in their fight against various
terror groups.
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