Fox News | Greg Norman, Lucas Tomlinson | September 7, 2020
A U.S. service member was injured Monday in Somalia after being targeted in a car bomb and mortar fire attack carried out by al-Shabab militants, the Air Force says.
The violence, which also left two Somali special forces soldiers dead, happened outside one of their bases southwest of the country’s capital, Mogadishu, Reuters reported, citing a local official.
“The U.S. service member is in stable condition and receiving treatment for injuries that are not assessed to be life-threatening,” Air Force Col. Chris Karns, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command, said in a statement to Fox News.
Karns said the U.S. and Somali troops were “conducting an advise, assist and accompany mission when al-Shabab attacked using a vehicle employed as an improvised explosive device and [with] mortar fire.”
Al-Shabab, which is linked to Al Qaeda, has fought for years to impose a strict version of Islam in Somalia while also launching attacks in neighboring countries like Kenya, where it killed a U.S. service member and two American contractors for the Pentagon in January.
Karns told Fox News that “continued pressure is being placed on this Al Qaeda-affiliated threat to limit its ability to expand and export violence, terrorism, and crime more broadly.”