A U.S. airstrike in Somalia last week killed about 60 members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group, U.S. Africa Command said on Tuesday.
It was the largest estimated enemy casualties of any U.S. strike in the African country since about 100 fighters were reported killed in November, the military command said in a statement.
“We also currently assess this airstrike did not injure or kill any civilians,” AFRICOM said.
President Trump intensified military operations against al-Shabaab in Somalia shortly after taking office and the U.S. routinely assists allied government forces with air power and advice by special operators on the ground.
Somalia is part of an expanded U.S. effort to combat an array of terrorist groups across Africa, including in Niger, where four troops were killed in an ambush last year. The Pentagon has been increasingly focused on the rise of extremism on the continent as it nears a victory over the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Al-Shabaab is among the most potent Islamist groups in eastern Africa and is locked in a protracted war with the Somali government over territory.
“In particular, the group uses portions of southern and central Somalia to plot and direct terror attacks, steal humanitarian aid, extort the local populace to fund its operations, and shelter radical terrorists,” AFRICOM said in the statement Tuesday.