WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon said on Thursday that seven militants of al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group in Somalia, were killed in U.S. airstrikes this week.
The U.S. military conducted three airstrikes on Wednesday and Thursday in Jilib, Somalia, about 200 miles (or 322 km) southwest of Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, said U.S. Africa Command in a statement.
Further details about the strikes were not available at the moment but the Pentagon said the airstrikes were conducted "in coordination with Somali forces."
Despite its involvement in assisting the Somalian government and African Union forces in battling al-Shabaab, an extremist group responsible for dozens of terror attacks in east Africa, the U.S. military so far was not launching regular airstrikes against the group in Somalia.
Currently, the U.S. maintains a small force unit of about 50 troops in Somalia, mainly to advise and assist Somalia and African Union mission in Somalia battling Al-Shabaab militants.
