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World|politics|September 2, 2014 / 09:31 AM
US military targets Islamic extremists in Somalia operation

AKIPRESS.COM - attack US military forces targeted the Islamic extremist al-Shabaab network in an operation on Monday in Somalia, the Pentagon has announced, reports The Guardian.

Rear Admiral John Kirby said the US was assessing the results and would provide more information when appropriate. No further details were available.

The US action comes after Somali government forces regained control of a high security prison in the capital that was attacked on Sunday by seven heavily armed suspected Islamic militants who attempted to free other extremists held there. The Pentagon statement did not indicate whether the US action was related to the prison attack.

Somali officials said all of the attackers, three government soldiers and two civilians were killed. Mogadishu’s Godka Jilacow prison is an interrogation centre for Somalia’s intelligence agency and many suspected militants are believed to be held in underground cells there.

The Somali rebel group al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack, which shattered a period of calm in Mogadishu that had come after two decades of chaotic violence. The attack started when a suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the prison, followed by gunmen who fought their way into the prison.

It was al-Shabaab gunmen who attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, with guns and grenades last September, killing at least 67 people.

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