U.S. forces killed a senior leader of Somalia’s Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab this week who was believed to be responsible for planning attacks that resulted in the deaths of well over 100 people, including Americans.
A U.S. Special Operations drone strike killed Maalim Ayman on Sunday in an operation conducted in coordination with the Somali national army, according to The New York Times.
Officials said that he was responsible for the January 5, 2020, terror attack on a military base in Manda Bay, Kenya. Three Americans, two contractors and one soldier, were killed in the attack, and six U.S. aircraft were destroyed.
The strike was carried out near Jilib, Somalia. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement: “The command’s initial assessment is that one al-Shabaab militant was killed in the strike and that there were no civilian casualties.”
“This is another step to defeat the terrorist group that undermines Somalia’s peace and development,” the statement said. “Al-Shabaab is the largest and most kinetically active al-Qaeda network in the world and has proved both its will and capability to attack U.S. forces and threaten U.S. security interests. U.S. Africa Command, alongside its partners, continues to take action to prevent this malicious terrorist group from planning and conducting attacks on civilians.”
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The news comes as the Biden administration finally responded to dozens of attacks against commercial cargo ships in the region this week by announcing an international coalition to combat the attacks from the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists.
The administration unveiled “the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea.”
Operation Prosperity Guardian is comprised of 20 countries combining forces to ensure safety in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, including the U.S., United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Greece, Australia, and Spain. Other countries that were participating in the operation asked to not be identified, according to Reuters.
Biden has repeatedly refused to launch strikes against the Houthis, even though some of their attacks appear to have targeted U.S. destroyers operating in the area. Biden’s lack of action has frustrated many of his top military officials who say that he has done nothing to establish deterrence as he does not want to risk upsetting Iran.
The Associated Press reported that the attacks have upended global commerce as some of the world’s largest shipping companies and oil producers have had to reroute their ships, taking significantly longer routes that can delay shipments by weeks and drive up costs for consumers.