1 U.S. soldier killed, 4 wounded in attack in Somalia

WASHINGTON — One U.S. special operations soldier was killed and four U.S. service members wounded in an enemy attack Friday in Somalia, the U.S. military said — casualties that are likely to put renewed scrutiny on America’s counterterror operations in Africa.

It’s the first public announcement of a U.S. mili- tary combat death on the continent since four U.S. service members were killed in a militant ambush in the west African nation of Niger in October.

U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that U.S. troops with Somali and Kenyan forces came under mortar and small-arms fire in Jubaland, Somalia, at 2.45 p.m. local time.

One member of the “partner f orces” was wounded.

One of the wounded U.S. service members received sufficient medical care in the field, and the other three were medically evacuated for treatment.

The statement did not identify the attackers but said a larger force of about 800 Somali and Kenyan troops were conducting a multiday operation against al- Shabab militants 217 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, when the attack occurred.

The operation aimed to clear the Somalia-based ex- tremist group al-Shabab from contested areas. The U.S. provided assistance and aerial surveillance for the mission, the statement said.

Al-Shabab claimed credit for the attack, the SITE Intelligence Group said in a statement Friday.

The U.S. has about 1,000 special operations personnel in Africa. The last killing of a U.S. service member in Somalia was in May 2017 during an operation 40 miles west of Mogadishu.

The U.S. had pulled out of the Horn of Africa nation after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.

But President Donald Trump in early 2017 approved expanded military operations against alShabab, leading to an increase in U.S. military personnel to more than 500 and the launch of dozens of drone strikes. Al-Shabab has been blamed for the October truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 500.

Al-Shabab, linked to alQaida, seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.

It was pushed out of Mogadishu in recent years but continues to control rural areas in the south and central regions.

Its fighters attack bases of a multinational African Union force that remains responsible for security as Somalia’s fragile central government tries to recover from decades of chaos.