U.S. Navy SEAL killed in Somalia operation
Death first since ‘Black Hawk Down’ in 1993
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Navy SEAL was killed in Somalia during an operation against the extremist group al-Shabab — the first U.S. combat death there in more than two decades — as the United States steps up its fight against the al-Qaida-linked organization in a country that remains chaotic.
“We do not believe there has been a case where a U.S. service member has been killed in combat action in Somalia since the incident there in 1993,” U.S. Africa Command spokesman Patrick Barnes said Friday.
The United States pulled out of Somalia after that incident, known as “Black Hawk Down,” in which two helicopters were shot down in the capital, Mogadishu, and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.
In a statement, the U.S. Africa Command said the service member was killed Thursday during the operation near Barii, 40 miles west of Mogadishu. The Pentagon said two other U.S. service members were wounded.
The identities of the dead and injured Americans were not released.
The U.S. special operations troops came under fire after U.S. aircraft delivered Somali forces to the target area, said a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis. He said the U.S. troops were “a distance back” from the compound, which had been “associated with some attacks on facilities that we use and that our Somali partners use nearby.”
Davis said the U.S. has worked with the Somali National Army to counter al-Shabab since 2013 with the goal of “degrading this al-Qaida affiliate’s ability to recruit, train and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and the United States.”
A Somali intelligence official said U.S. forces killed at least six people in the raid on a building housing the al-Shabab extremist group’s Andalus radio station at a farm near Dare Salaam village. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the dead included al-Shabab journalists.
Via its Shahada News Agency, al-Shabab said “an air landing operation by U.S. special forces was thwarted in Lower Shabelle province and a number of their soldiers were killed and wounded,” the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
The United States and Somalia in recent weeks have declared new efforts against al-Shabab.
President Donald Trump has approved expanded military operations against the extremist group, including more aggressive airstrikes and considering parts of southern Somalia areas of active hostilities.
Somalia’s new SomaliAmerican president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, last month declared a new offensive against al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia but has claimed responsibility for major attacks elsewhere in East Africa.
Also last month, the U.S. military announced it was sending dozens of regular troops to Somalia in the largest such deployment to the country in two decades. The U.S. Africa Command said the deployment was for logistics training of Somalia’s army.
The U.S. in recent years has sent a small number of special operations forces and counter-terror advisers to Somalia and has carried out a number of airstrikes, including drone strikes, against al-Shabab.
The extremist group, which was chased out of Mogadishu years ago but continues to carry out deadly attacks there, has vowed to step up the violence in response to the moves by Trump and Mohamed. It still controls rural parts of the country.
Aid groups have raised concerns about the new military efforts, saying civilians could be at risk as hundreds of thousands are displaced by a drought that threatens half the country’s population of 12 million.