Pentagon identifies SEAL killed in Somalia

WASHINGTON — A Navy SEAL who was killed in a raid targeting a remote compound used by Shabab militants in Somalia was identified Saturday as Kyle Milliken of Falmouth, Maine.

Milliken, 38, is the first U.S. service member killed in combat in Somalia since the infamous “Black Hawk Down” battle in 1993 that left 18 U.S. military personnel dead, according to the Pentagon.

Officials said the U.S. force was accompanying Somali National Army soldiers during an assault on a Shabab compound near Barij, about 40 miles west of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, when they came under attack before dawn Friday.

The episode comes as the U.S. military expands operations against Shabab, which is allied with al-Qaida. The group has carried out lethal bombings and attacks across Somalia and neighboring Kenya for more than a decade.

U.S. drone strikes have killed several of Shabab’s top commanders, according to U.S. assessments.