MOGADISHU, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States army said Monday it conducted a total of six airstrikes over the weekend, killing 62 al-Shabab militants in a region southwest of the capital, Mogadishu.
The U.S. Africa Command (Africom) said no civilian was killed in the latest strikes which were carried out on Saturday and Sunday in coordination with Somali government in the vicinity of Gandarshe, about 48 km southwest of Mogadishu.
Africom said its special forces conducted four airstrikes targeting al-Shabab militants in Gandarshe on Saturday where 34 militants were killed while 28 other militants were killed during two strikes carried out on Sunday in the same location.
Gandarshe is a small coastal village between Mogadishu and Marka that has been used by al-Shabab to launch attacks in Mogadishu since the terrorist group was ousted from their strongholds in Mogadishu in 2011.
Africom said on Saturday that its special forces conducted an airstrike in Gandarshe on Saturday, killing eight al-Shabab terrorists.
The U.S. army said these airstrikes were conducted to prevent terrorists from using remote areas as a safe haven "to plot, direct, inspire, and recruit for future attacks."
Africom, which has in the past conducted counterterrorism airstrikes against the terror group in Somalia, said 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.
