US Air Strike Targets Islamists In Somalia

Reports hitting the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that the US military on Tuesday carried out an air strike against al-Shabab fighters in Somalia.

According to state-owned media, the central Hiran region saw heavy bombardment that was basically targeted at the non-state actors.

It said this followed a request from the Somali government.

The US-Africa Command is yet to react to the story at the time of filing this report.

American officials said two airstrikes in June and July killed seven jihadist fighters.

Read Also: Self-Declared Somaliland Arrests Somalia’s Former Deputy PM

Africa Today News, New York reports that Al-Shabab has recently increased its attacks on government targets and has carried out cross border raids into Ethiopia.

A former leader of the group, Mukhtar Robow, has just been made Somalia’s minister of religious affairs.

His appointment is believed to be an attempt to counter al-Shabab’s extreme ideology.

Africa Today News, New York reports that in an apparent response to the historic drought that has become a serious threat to millions of lives in the Horn of Africa, the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing at least $105 million in key humanitarian aid to bring immediate relief to the most vulnerable people.

The region, which is currently in the midst of a fourth consecutive failed rainy season is now bedeviled with worsening drought conditions increasing the likelihood of famine for hundreds of thousands of people in the Horn of Africa.

A fifth rainy season is forecast to be drier than average, further leaving the livelihoods for families who depend on crops and livestock for food to survive devastated.  As a result, more than 16 million people need immediate humanitarian assistance.  The number is expected to rise to unprecedented levels, with up to 20 million people in need of urgent assistance by September.

Africa Today News, New York

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *