The U.S. drone airstrike hit a training camp killing 150 militants and terrorists who were members of the Al-Shabaab group in Somalia.
The aircraft targeted a training centre called ‘Raso camp’, located 120 miles north of Mogadishu. The camp had around 200 militant and trainers.
These militants underwent intense training in the camp to conduct attacks, but there is no further information on their attack plans.
The camp was under surveillance by the U.S. force for several weeks and it was decided that removing these militants and trainers would decrease the value and the ability of the Al-Shabaab group to recruit new trainers.
In 2011, Al-Shabaab, an associate of Al-Qaeda, was displaced by the Mogadishu African Union Peacekeeping forces, but they have continued their attacks as revenge.
The U.S. military did not disclose as to where the attack might happen, but the U.S. military maintains their presence in the airport and a small number of forces travelled to other parts of the country. Recently, the Australian Navy seized huge weapons, such as grenade launchers, machine guns, and rifles found on a fishing boat on the coast of Oman on its route to Somalia.
Al-Shabaab has carried out major attacks this year:
- January 15th 2016 - at least 180 soldiers were killed at a Kenyan base.
- January 21st 2016 - 20 people were killed in a Mogadishu’s Lido Beach restaurant.
- February 26th 2016 - 9 people were killed in a hotel in Mogadishu.
- February 28th 2016 - 30 people were killed in a twin bombing carried out in a restaurant and at a busy junction of Baidoa, Somalia.
