WASHINGTON–US fighter jets Monday night carried out a strike in southern Somalia targeting senior leader of Al Shabab fighters.
In a statement by Military spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon said its warplanes hit a target in Saakow. The statement did not mention the name of the targeted leader.
The air raid comes barely two days after the intelligence chief of the militant group, Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi, surrendered himself to the government. Zakariya was a subject of $3 million US dollars bounty.
“At this time, we do not assess there to be any civilian or bystander casualties,” he said.
“We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information, when appropriate, as details become available.”
U.S air raids usually kill civilians in “collateral damage.”
The death of the group’s leader Ahmed Godane early September this year in US air raid dealt a blow to the group, but the armed group occasionally stages a brazen attack against the Somali government and the foreign forces in the country under the Amison alliance.
