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Joint US-Somali Force Attacked by al-Shabab

by Jeff Seldin

   PENTAGON --

   Al-Shabab militants launched a deadly attack on U.S. and Somali forces
   Friday, hitting them with explosives and heavy gunfire.

   A U.S. military official confirmed the attack in the country's south,
   about 50 kilometers (32 miles) north of the port city of Kismayo,
   killed one U.S. troop and wounded four others. A Somali soldier was
   also wounded in the attack.

   The U.S. forces were accompanying Somali and other African forces at
   the time, helping to set up an outpost to clear the area of al-Shabab
   fighters.

   Witnesses said the attack took place near the town of Sanguni, while
   the U.S. and Somali troops were digging trenches and setting up other
   defenses.

   They said the al-Shabab fighters first set off a series of explosions
   before opening fire.

   A helicopter was brought in to evacuate the wounded. Witnesses say at
   least two Somali soldiers were killed.

   Last May a Navy seal was killed near the village of Dar e Salam in the
   Lower Shabelle region. He was the first U.S. casualty in Somalia since
   the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993.

   Al-Shabab has increased the pace of its attacks since the start of the
   Muslim holy month of Ramadan, including two attacks, in Wajid and
   El-Wak, on Thursday.

   In El-Wak, near the border with Kenya, the militants raided a local
   health center taking medicine.

   Earlier this month, al-Shabab claimed a series of attacks across the
   country, according to the SITE Intelligence group.

   Al-Shabab said it stormed a Somali military base near Bosaso in the
   country's northeast, blew up a U.S. military vehicle and downed a U.S.
   surveillance drone.

   Jeff works out of VOA's Washington headquarters and is national
   security correspondent. You can follow Jeff on Twitter at [1]@jseldin
   or on [2]Google Plus.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/jseldin
   2. https://plus.google.com/112142189315478513438