More than 100 Islamist militants in Somalia were killed on Tuesday in an airstrike launched by the US military.
Reports from the military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out on a camp 125 miles (201 km) northwest of the capital Mogadishu, reports Reuters.
The US military launched the airstrike with support from UN-backed Federal Government of Somalia.
Somalia’s state news agency SONNA late Tuesday reported that about 100 al shabaab insurgents were killed in a combat by US planes and Somali commandos in their bases at the Bur Elay area of Bay region.
But Al Shabaab spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab has since denied the attack saying it’s mere propaganda. “It’s just…propaganda.”
This is the third airstrike conducted by the US military in Somalia.
In March last year, a similar airstrike was launched and it killed over 150 al-shabaab militia in Somalia.
In early November this year, the US conducted a similar offensive on Islamic State militants in Somalia where it said in a report that several terrorists were killed.
Al shabaab has been fighting to regain control of Somalia which has been backed heavily by the UN in establishing its own government.
The outlawed terror group has since been edged out of Mogadishu but remains in strong dominance of Southern Somalia where it has carried out bomb attacks severally.
With Tuesday’s airstrike, the US military has warned of retaliatory attacks by the insurgents.
“Al-Shabaab has publicly committed to planning and conducting attacks against the US and our partners in the region,” read a statement by the military.