US military airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabaab kills 2

The US military says it has carried out an airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabaab extremists, killing two fighters.

The US Africa Command statement says the strike was carried out on Tuesday about 46km northeast of the port city of Kismayo.

The US has carried out 20 such strikes this year against the Somalia-based al-Shabaab. The al-Qaeda-linked group is the deadliest Islamic extremist organisation in sub-Saharan Africa and it often targets Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, with deadly attacks.

The US since late last year also has carried out a number of drone strikes against a small presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State organisation in the northern part of the Horn of Africa nation.

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