(Somalia) United States Africa Command has confirmed that a member of the U.S. military was killed in action, with two other service members wounded in an operation reportedly targeting al-Shabaab early Friday morning. According to the Department of Defense, there are American Special Operations Forces currently working in an advisory role with the Somali National Army.
The incident occurred approximately 40 miles west of the capital city of Mogadishu, in the vicinity of a town named Barri. While conducting ground operations with their partner forces, the American service members encountered small arms fire, resulting in the death of the unnamed service member. Given the nature of the mission, it is with near absolute certainty the service members involved were United States Army Special Forces, America’s premiere Foreign Internal Defense unit. Identification of the fallen will be withheld until after the notification of family members.
Al-Shabaab is an Islamic terrorist organization that operates throughout East Africa and has been officially affiliated with al-Qaeda since 2012. The American casualties were reportedly not conducting the expanded mission to direct airstrikes on terrorist targets, but rather an advisory role with Somali forces. Somalia is most known among the American public for the location of the military operation recounted in Black Hawk Down.
