© U.S. Air ForceA U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet
According to an unidentified US official, at least two airstrikes were carried out on Friday. The alleged attack is the first US mission against the terrorist group in the East African country.
It wasn't immediately clear how many militants had been hit, the US official told media. An assessment was underway, the source said.
A local security official said a remote mountainous village of Buqa in Somalia's northern state of Puntland had been targeted, AP reports. The unnamed Somali source claimed six missiles had struck the area.
In late October, the chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, announced that Pentagon saw the continent as a new front line against IS. Claiming that the terrorist group "has aspirations to establish a larger presence" in Africa after being pushed out of Syria and Iraq, the military official said Pentagon planned to advise President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on the "allocation of forces."
Comment: Africa's recent trouble with apparent 'terror attacks' and America's sudden interest in the area couldn't have anything to do with the fact that China, an ally of Russia, has been involved in many mutually beneficial business deals with places like Somalia with an eye to lifting up the region:
- Two bomb blasts strike Mogadishu, Somalia; 22 people killed
- US launches airstrikes against Islamic militants in Somalia
- Al Shabaab: Terror in East Africa benefits Western interests
- China stages first overseas military drill in Djibouti
- Why is the US at war in West Africa?
- The end of the Unipolar world: China and Russia continue to build the new Silk Road to a multi-polar world
- The history of NATO's war against Africa
- Behind the Headlines: 'Containing' Russia-China and Global Economic Collapse
- The Truth Perspective: China supports Russia, Kerry visits Sochi
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