Saturday June 9, 2018
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Somalia's Islamist group al Shabaab has claimed
responsibility for an attack in which a U.S. commando was killed and
four others were wounded when they came under fire in the country.
The U.S. special operations forces were
fighting alongside about 800 troops from the Somali National Security
Forces and Kenyan Defence Forces when they were attacked late on Friday
by mortars and small arms fire.
"We attacked a military
base ... killed one U.S. soldier, two Kenyan soldiers and nine Somali
soldiers from Jubbaland state. We also injured four U.S. soldiers,"
Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaabs military operations spokesman, told
Reuters on late Friday.
He said the attack was in the southern town of Kismayo.
President Trump addressed the situation in a Saturday morning tweet, calling the U.S. soldiers heroes.
In a separate statement,
the U.S. military said on Friday one local soldier was also wounded in
the attack that also involved Somali and Kenyan forces.
The troops had been on a
mission to clear al Shabaab from contested areas as well as villages the
militants controlled, "and establish a permanent combat outpost" to
expand the reach of the Somali state, according to the U.S. statement.
Kenyan military spokesman David Obonyo told Reuters that its forces were not involved in any operations in Somalia on Friday
About 500 U.S. troops are deployed in Somalia.
Al Shabaab is fighting to
overthrow Somalia's central government and establish its own rule based
on its interpretation of Islamic law.