- 13 minutes ago
- From the section Africa
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A US air strike has killed more than 150 al-Shabab militants in Somalia, the Pentagon says.
Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the strike hit a training camp where a "large-scale" attack was being planned."We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces," Captain Davis said.
"Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated," he added.
Mr Davis said the strike, by both drones and manned aircraft, took place on Saturday and targeted Raso Camp, a training facility about 120 miles (195km) north of the capital, Mogadishu.
The camp had been under surveillance for some time, according to Mr Davis. "There was a sense that the operational phase was about to happen," he said.
Al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has continued to launch frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.
New questions for African force in Somalia
Who are al-Shabab?
The group has said it carried out a string of recent attacks including a twin bombing at a busy restaurant in the Somali city of Baidoa last month.
Also on Monday, the Australian navy said it had seized a huge cache of weapons on a fishing boat off the coast of Oman that was apparently heading for Somalia.
Grenade launchers, machine guns, and 2,000 assault rifles were concealed under fishing nets, a Navy spokesman said.
Major al-Shabab attacks in 2016
28 February - on a restaurant and busy junction in Baidoa killing at least 30 people26 February - on Mogadishu's SYL hotel killing nine people
21 January - on a restaurant at Mogadishu's Lido beach killing 20 people
15 January - on a Kenyan base in el-Ade that Somalia's president said killed at least 180 soldiers
Two decades of anarchy
- New questions for African force in Somalia
- Al-Shabab wants IS to back off in East Africa
- Al-Shabab: A defector's story
- Who was suicide bomber Luul Dahir?
- The shadowy centre helping former al-Shabab members quit
- Mogadishu's Lido beach: Sun, surf and... grenades?
- Somalia outrage at remittance bans
- Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?
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