Jihadists have attacked a military base where US soldiers train commandos in Somalia, causing casualties, reports say.
Local residents reported heavy blasts and gunfire at Baledogle airport in the southern Lower Shabelle region.
The al-Shabab militant group said it had carried out the attack, using a car bomb to blast through the gates before sending its fighters inside.
Military officials say the jihadists have been pushed back.
Al-Shabab launched a “daring raid on the US military base”, the group said in a statement.
“After breaching the perimeters of the heavily fortified base, the mujahideen [holy warriors] stormed the military complex, engaging the crusaders in an intense firefight.”
The base, about 100km (60 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu, is said to house US special forces, Somali special forces and Ugandan peacekeepers.
Separately, an Italian military convoy was hit by an explosion in Mogadishu itself, Italy’s defence ministry said. No casualties have as yet been reported in this attack.
The US has sharply increased its air strikes against al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, since President Donald Trump took power.
Officials in Somalia say the group has increased its attacks in Mogadishu as retaliation for the air strikes.
The US state department says al-Shabab retains control over large parts of the country and has the ability to carry out high-profile attacks using suicide bombers, explosive devices, mortars and small arms.
If they truly believe we are crusaders why don’t we start conducting some crusades? Why bother with a war strategy that literally revolves around “not all Muslims” and just embrace our role as bloodthirsty crusaders committed to removing the Religion of Peace™ wherever we find it?
Translation: Obama let al-Shabab flourish under his watch because he was a totally useless President who truly desired to see the entire region destabilized.
USFP is static…
The Pentagons plan to topple the seven countries that happen to have also been on Trump’s Muslim ban list.
What’s even more interesting is the list you are belly aching about came from the Obama Administration. Perhaps that does reinforce your claim that US foreign policy is somewhat static; however, I would argue that the deep state is static and they are the ones pushing foreign policy.
Wesley Clark was shown the list by Pentagon brass very shortly after 9/11, during the Bush administration. They didn’t meet the goal of five years, but clearly efforts remain afoot as we are still operating (without congressional authorization) in Yemen and Somalia. Of course Russia/Iran, and to a lesser degree, China have pretty much thwarted the attempts with Syria.
Right, because it is.
Did you ever think that US foreign policy towards shithole countries has largely remained unchanged because they are shithole countries?
What’s that mean to you? That the US has been chosen by god to go about destroying all “shithole countries”???
Have we become so use to our executive branch wagging unauthorized war that we don’t even question it anymore…
It sure sounds like you want the US to go full isolationist. I’d be good with that. Let’s deport every single illegal alien, close down our borders, and focus solely on America. If anyone messes with us we just start lobbing nukes at them. It would only take one nuke to let everyone know that we aren’t playing games.
Well, in terms of wagging illegal and gratuitous war, indubitably.
That’s a whole other subject and unrelated to US activity in Somalia.