Somalia Raid Kills Shabab Leader and 3 Associates<br />By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSMAY 7, 2017<br />MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s military killed one of the Shabab’s regional leaders<br />and three associates in a raid, the government said on Sunday, shortly after the killing of a Navy SEAL who was supporting a Somali military operation.<br />"Defect, as many of your brothers are beginning to do." Somalia’s military is under growing pressure to take full responsibility<br />for the country’s security as a multinational African Union force prepares to start withdrawing in 2018.<br />Moalin Osman Abdi Badil, the group’s leader in the Lower Shabelle region,<br />and three others were killed on Friday in the village of Bariire, west of Mogadishu, the government said.<br />The Pentagon called it the first American combat death in Somalia since the "Black Hawk Down" battle in 1993, when two helicopters were shot down<br />and the bodies of American soldiers were dragged through the streets.<br />The United States military has been supporting the country in recent years with a small number of Special Operations forces<br />and counterterrorism advisers, along with numerous airstrikes against the Shabab.<br />Somalia’s new president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, declared the country a war zone on April 6 and began a new offensive against the Shabab.
