Airstrikes kill 37 al-Shabaab militants, US military says

U.S. airstrikes killed 37 al-Shabaab militants in Somalia on Monday, military officials said.

The first airstrike near Debatscile, Somalia, killed 27 militants and a second killed 10, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said.

{mosads}Officials do not believe any civilians were killed or injured in the strikes, which were coordinated with the Somalian government, it added.

Under President Trump, the Pentagon has increased airstrikes and ground troops in Somalia, where approximately 500 U.S. troops are based. The U.S. has carried out dozens of airstrikes against al-Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, this year.

“Alongside our Somali and international partners, we are committed to preventing al-Shabaab from taking advantage of safe havens from which they can build capacity and attack the people of Somalia,” AFRICOM said. 

The U.S. is seeking to stave off al-Shabaab influence in the region. 

Last year, the terrorist group bombed a truck in Mogadishu, killing more than 500 people in the world’s deadliest terror attack since Sept. 11, 2001. The group was pushed out of the city, but still controls parts of southern and central Somalia.

The armed conflict in Somalia has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, the destruction of infrastructure and resources, and the displacement of millions of people, according to a 2017 United Nations report. 

Th U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) documented 2,078 civilian deaths and 2,507 injuries between January 2016 to October 2017. Sixty percent of those casualties were attributed to al-Shabaab militants, 13 percent to clan militias, 11 percent to the government and state law enforcement, four percent to the peacekeeping mission African Union Mission to Somalia, and 12 percent were unattributed.

Amnesty International’s Daphne Eviatar said in a statement to The Hill that the human rights organization is “investigating civilian casualties from U.S. strikes” and “it’s clear so far that AFRICOM’s claim that their operations haven’t killed any civilians is false.”

“Amnesty International has been very concerned about the lack of attention to U.S. lethal strikes in Somalia, which the AFRICOM regularly says kill no civilians, without providing any additional information,” Eviatar said. “The U.S. government needs to conduct real and credible investigations of civilian casualties and provide compensation for victims, not just use air strikes to target suspected ‘militants’ or ‘extremists’ and … deem all their killings a huge success.”

–This report was updated at 3:27 p.m.