U.S. military forces carried out an operation on Monday against al Shabaab militants in Somalia, a U.S. Department of Defense spokesman said.
“We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.
No further details about the operation in the African country were immediately available.
African and Somali forces have regained several towns this year, but rebels still hold other centers and tracts of countryside.
Twice before in the past year, the United States has targeted Al-Shabaab leaders in Somalia. Al-Shabaab, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, has a relationship with al Qaeda that goes back several years. In 2012 the two groups effectively merged, according to CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.
Al Shabaab is an Islamist group affiliated with al Qaeda that wants to impose its own strict version of Islam in Somalia. It ruled most of the southern region of Somalia from 2006 until 2011, when African peacekeeping troops marched into the capital, Mogadishu.
(Hattip to Yahoo News, CNN)
