Tuesday January 23, 2024
Mogadishu (HOL) - The Somali National Army, in collaboration with the US military, killed at least four al-Shabab militants during a planned operation in the Lower Jubba region.
The federal government reported on Monday that United States military forces, in conjunction with the Somali army, carried out a strike approximately 45 km north of Kismayo, the interim administrative capital of the Jubbaland regional government.
The statement emphasized that no civilian casualties were reported during the mission.
In December of last year, the Somali National Army, with assistance from US forces, killed Maalim Ayman, a key leader of the al-Shabaab terror group, during an airstrike operation in southern Somalia.
The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of Ayman earlier last year.
Ayman was the mastermind of the Jan. 5, 2020, terror attack on US and Kenyan personnel at the Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya’s coastal region of Lamu. The US said Ayman is the leader of Jaysh Ayman, an al-Shabaab unit conducting terror attacks and operations in Kenya and Somalia.