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[Walpurgis]

US airstrike on al-Shabaab training camp in Somalia kills 150

The US has carried out an airstrike in Somalia, killing more than 150 people the Pentagon said were fighters with the al Qaida-linked Islamist group al-Shabaab. The strike, followed US intelligence on preparations for a large-scale militant attack, according to the Pentagon. The weekend strike using both unmanned drones and manned aircraft targeted al-Shabaab’s “Raso” training camp, a facility about 120 miles north of the capital Mogadishu, the Pentagon said. The US military said on Monday it had been monitoring the camp for several weeks before the strike and had gathered intelligence, including about an imminent threat posed by the trainees.

“We know they were going to be departing the camp and that they posed an imminent threat to US and to Amisom, African Union mission in Somalia forces, that are in Somalia,” said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.

The strike, using drones as well as piloted warplanes, has killed a reported 150 people – the largest casualty total in a US military attack of the post-9/11 era – although Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said on Monday the military was still “assess[ing] the results of the operation”.

Al-Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the western-backed government.

Davis said as many as 200 fighters were believed to be training at the Raso camp at the time of the strike and expressed confidence there were no civilian casualties.

“Their removal will degrade al-Shabaab’s ability to meet the group’s objectives in Somalia, which include recruiting new members, establishing bases and planning attacks on US and Amisom forces there,” Davis said.

The African Union currently has 20,000 soldiers fighting in Somalia.

I am very pleased with this. I'm normally against the U.S. involving itself in other countries but they have generally been pretty good to Somalia. This was something that Somalia desperately needed. I hope to god that no civilians were killed. This will no doubt be a major blow to al-Shabaab's morale. However, I fear how they will retaliate.

In 2016 alone, here is the damage that al-Shabaab has done.

Mortar lands near Villa Somalia (that's the presidential palace)
Mogadishu beach area hit by car bomb and intense gunfire
Mogadishu beach attack: at least 20 dead as Somali forces end siege
Al-Shabaab militants retake Somali port
Somalia: Over a dozen killed as Al Shabaab attacks Afgooye
Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for bombing that left hole in Airbus A321
Somalia ex-Defence Minister killed in Mogadishu blast
Somalia: Five intelligence officers killed in Mogadishu car bomb
Al-Shabaab attack on Mogadishu hotel kills 14 civilians
Dozens dead after al-Shabaab Islamists bomb town in Somalia

And just today.
Laptop blast wounds six at airstrip in central Somalia
Looks like trial 2 of that airplane bomb last month.

Thank you, America.

 

[Jumeira]

Loss of 120 lives isnt something to be happy about but these guys knew what they were doing and what thier organisation stood for. Good result in an unfortunate situation.

 

[Condom]

Good stuff.

 

[Mighty Chin]

Great result.

 

[params7]

Very successful strike. U.S. spent some time gathering intelligence to minimize civilian hits which is important. No civilian casualties this time. Somalia needs all the help it can get fighting its extremism.

 

[Tagyhag]

I'm glad Africa isn't being ignored. Lots of bad shit is happening there as well.

 

[Walpurgis]

What really gets me is how close this training camp was to Mogadishu. I don't even know how people can live there.

 

[TheShocker]

Outstanding.

 

[andythinkpad]

Yes, good!

 

[Yaphett Kotto]

What really gets me is how close this training camp was to Mogadishu. I don't even know how people can live there.

Yea, its nuts how some people just conduct their daily life and you have fighters who won't blink twice to killing you just a car drive away.

 

[Walpurgis]

Somali cattle herder describes US airstrike on al-Shabaab training camp

Bashir Dhure, a herder living nearby, said the camp had been set up in a new and secret location in an attempt to avoid Somali and western intelligence, but was targeted on Saturday night.

“There were big explosions,” he told the Guardian. “All nearby places were caught on fire and no one knew what was happening. In the morning I could see the smoke coming from the bombarded training facility.

“It was like a burnt house. Everything turned burnt. I saw three vehicles burnt down. Al-Shabaab fighters were collecting dead bodies. They were put on trucks and took out of the village. We do not know where they were buried,” he said in a telephone interview.

Following the airstrike, angry al-Shabaab fighters started searching for what they termed spies collaborating with Americans, Dhure continued. They detained about a dozen people, mostly young camel herders living in two nearby villages, Eel Dibi and Raso, about 125 miles north of the capital, Mogadishu.

“I was lucky as I fled from the area before they started the search operation, because I knew that there would be a harsh backlash by al-Shabaab after they were bombed by the Americans.”

The Raso training facility hosted about 200 to 300 newly recruited fighters, he added. “At least half of these fighters were killed.”

Abdiasis Mohamed Durow, district commissioner in Buloburte, put the death toll even higher. “I have confirmed that this was a heavy and deadly bombardment,” he said. “This time al-Shabaab lost about 200 fighters, among them five top commanders who were at the training camp to witness the closing of the training of the newly recruited militants.”

[...] Pentagon spokeswoman said “we have no reports of civilian casualties from these strikes”.

[...] “That al-Shabaab had that many recruits in training at just one location … is a worrying indicator of the group’s continued relevance and its power to attract.

“The fact that al-Shabaab feels emboldened enough to gather so many together in one place, these are hardly signs of a group on the run.”

Good to hear that there are no civilian casualties but I hope those nomads they kidnapped are okay. They probably have no idea what is going on. I fear what comes next though.

 

[Walpurgis]

US special forces kill 'high-profile target' during al-Shabaab gun battle

A night-time raid by US special forces in Somalia led to a fierce gun battle with fighters from the al Qaida-linked Islamist group al-Shabaab, in which more than 10 insurgents were killed.
[...] “It was a high-profile target, and chances of capture were challenged by a stiff resistance by militants guarding the house targeted by the special forces, which forced the commando to resort to the kill or capture method,” the official said. He spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press on the matter.

[...] Roughly 50 US special operations troops have been operating in Somalia on a rotational basis for the last few years. The raid came only three days after the US carried out an airstrike on an al-Shabaab training camp that the Pentagon said killed about 150 of its members.

These are some of the most aggressive military actions in Somalia since a US military intervention in the early 1990s during a famine culminated in the so-called Black Hawk Down battle, with heavy US losses.

It's good to see al-Shabaab taking more hits. I didn't know that the U.S. had ground troops in Somalia so that's nice too. I read somewhere (in this article or another) that they have more than 50 though - closer to several hundred.

 

[onken]

Good. Fucking al-shabaab are a scourge on Islam and Africa in general. It's almost a shame those Boko Haram shitstains get all the attention in Africa because these assholes are basically just as bad in every way.