Pentagon Confirms Senior al-Shabaab Militant and Associate Death in Somalia

Pentagon Press Secretary confirmed the death of a senior al-Shabaab militant Yusuf Dheeq and his associate, killed in a US air strike in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in January.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Pentagon confirmed the death of a senior al-Shabaab militant Yusuf Dheeq and his associate, killed in a US air strike in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in January, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.

“We know we killed him and an associate in that strike. We do not access that there was any civilian or bystander casualties as a result of that,” Kirby said on Tuesday.

On January 31, US Special Operations Forces conducted an air strike south of Mogadishu using unmanned aircraft and Hellfire missiles. The operation was directed against the terrorist group’s chief of external operations and planning for intelligence and security, Yusuf Dheeq.

Al-Shabaab has been fighting for over seven years to impose an Islamic state in Somalia.

Somalia has been without an effective government since the overthrow of the Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1991. The internationally-recognized federal government controls Mogadishu and parts of central Somalia. The other areas in the country are self-governing or controlled by unrecognized state formations.