US military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a US drone strike targeted a group of insurgents, Somalian Minister of Defense Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi told reporters on Friday.
The operation is at least the second time US troops have landed in Somalia after a targeted strike, though no forces have been stationed there since shortly after the Black Hawk Down battle that left 18 Americans dead in 1993.
Haji Faqi called on the US to carry out more airstrikes against the al-Qaeda-linked militants, though he admitted that Somali officials appear not to have been informed about the June 23 operation near the southern coastal town of Kismayo beforehand.
“But we are not complaining about that. Absolutely not. We welcome it,” Haji Faqi said.
“We understand the US’ need to quickly act on its intelligence on the ground,” he said. “We urge the US to continue its strikes against al-Shabab because if it keeps those strikes up, it will be easier for us to defeat al-Shabab.”
US officials have increased their warnings that the threat from Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group is growing and that militants are developing stronger ties with the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
New US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told lawmakers last month that as the core al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan undergoes leadership changes after the killing of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the US needs to make sure that the group does not relocate to Somalia.
The only US military base in Africa is in the tiny nation of Djibouti, which lies on Somalia’s northern border. US troops can also operate from navy ships moving through the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
In 2009, US helicopters swooped over a convoy carrying the al-Qaeda fugitive Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was killed in the US raid. Elite commandos rappelled to the ground and collected two bodies.
Haji Faqi said the June 23 attack was carried out by a US drone, and that after the attack, US forces picked up militants who were either killed or injured. Residents in Kismayo reported hearing helicopters hovering overhead the night of the operation.
“We have intelligence reports from our own sources that the US army picked up militants after the strike,” Haji Faqi said, declining to disclose them.
He said that the Somalia government would release the militants’ names when they’re confirmed by DNA tests.
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