Mogadishu, Somalia • The U.S. military command in Africa says it carried out three drone strikes against Islamic extremists in Somalia within 24 hours, stepping up their campaign against al-Shabab and the Islamic State group.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Africa command told The Associated Press Sunday that the attacks by unmanned drones killed several extremist fighters. She said that with these three attacks, the U.S. has now carried out 26 strikes in Somalia against extremist targets in 2017.
Two of the strikes were against al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida and has been waging a war for 10 years to establish rule by Shariah law in Somalia.
The third U.S. strike was in northern Somali against the Islamic State group, which has established itself in Somalia over the past two years.