US Soldier Injured, 3 Somali Soldiers Killed in Islamist Suicide Attack
A U.S. soldier was wounded and three Somali soldiers were killed when an al-Shabab suicide bomber tried to pass a checkpoint and attack a military compound in southern Somalia but was stopped by the joint forces, the countries said Monday.
A Somali information ministry statement said the attack occurred Monday morning about 37 miles north of the port city of Kismayo.
Three other Somali soldiers were wounded and an al-Shabab extremist was killed, it said.
“The U.S. service member is in stable condition and receiving treatment for injuries that are not assessed to be life-threatening,” U.S. Africa Command spokesman Christopher Karns said in a separate statement.
Al-Shabab’s military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab, in an audio message broadcast by the extremist group’s radio arm, Andalus, claimed multiple U.S. and Somali deaths in the attack.
But there was no independent confirmation, and al-Shabab often exaggerates casualties.
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab remains the most active and resilient Islamic extremist group in Africa, controlling parts of southern and central Somalia and often targeting checkpoints and other high-profile areas in the capital, Mogadishu.
It has fired several mortars this year at the heavily defended international airport, where the U.S. Embassy and others are located.
The U.S. military often advises and assists Somali forces on the ground and has carried out dozens of airstrikes against al-Shabab this year alone.
Last month the U.S. Africa Command said there are between 650 and 850 Department of Defense personnel, including military, civilians and contractors, in Somalia.
“Across Somalia, al-Shabab attacks continued at historically high levels,” according to a new quarterly report released last week by the Department of Defense Inspector General.
Meanwhile, it said, Somali forces did not liberate any new territory from the extremist group.
Somali security officials, however, assert that al-Shabab attacks have declined in recent months because of significant military pressure by joint Somali and African Union forces along with regular airstrikes.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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