US Airstrike Kills 22 Somalian Soldiers
MEP: At least 22 Somalian military soldiers have been killed in an American air strike in northern part of the country, an official from the region reported.
On Wednesday, Galmudug states Security Minister Osman Issa announced that his soldiers were killed in the airstrike, adding that the attack was launched on a request from the rival neighboring region of Puntland on the pretext that the targets were al-Shabab militants, according to PressTV.
Issa said it wasn’t a mistake on the US warplanes’ part, but rather a plot by the autonomous region of Puntland.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis claimed that US forces had engaged in a “self-defense airstrike” after Somali troops were attacked by militants during operations to halt a bomb manufacturing network.
Davis said nine al-Shabab rebels were killed in the strike, but the Pentagon was looking into reports that it could have killed others.
“We will look at the reports to see if they are credible, and if they are credible we’ll investigate them,” Davis said.
A Puntland police source told reporters that over a dozen militants were killed in the attack, despite al-Shabaab denying this claim as they said they had no fighters in the region at the time of attack.
