Pentagon: Terrorists killed in Somalia airstrike posed ‘imminent threat’

About a dozen al-Shabaab fighters were killed in U.S. airstrikes in Somalia this week, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

{mosads}The targeted fighters posed an “imminent threat to U.S. personnel,” Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza said in a statement.

“U.S. forces are working closely with partner forces to combat al Shabaab in Somalia,” she said. “Al Shabaab has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and continues to use its safe havens throughout Somalia to plot attacks against U.S. citizens and interests in East Africa, as well as against our international partners in the region.”

The airstrikes Monday night and Tuesday morning were focused on an al-Shabaab camp in the southern part of the country, according to the brief statement. 

This week’s strikes follow two others in March against the al Qaeda-linked group. One at the beginning of the month killed more than 150 fighters at a camp north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

And at the end of March, a U.S. airstrike targeted a senior leader who the Pentagon said was involved in attacks that killed at least three American citizens.