US airstrike kills extremist rebel in Somalia, say officials

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Intelligence officials in Somalia say an airstrike conducted by the U.S. military in the country’s south killed a senior extremist of the al-Shabab rebel group.

The airstrike on Monday by an unmanned U.S. drone targeted a vehicle outside Sakow, a town in Somalia’s Middle Jubba region, killing the rebel and wounding another, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The strike was conducted in co-ordination with Somali intelligence which assisted in tracking the slain militant before the U.S. airstrike.

The U.S. Africa Command confirmed the strike.

“We continue to work closely with our Somali partners to take decisive action to weed out terrorists who wish to do harm to the Somali people,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Miguel A. Castellanos, deputy director of operations, U.S. Africa Command, in a statement which said that no Somali no civilians were injured or killed as a result of the airstrike.

There was no immediate comment from al-Shabab on the latest airstrike.