The Ethiopian Defence Force said it has killed several members of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab extremist group with airstrikes in Somalia.
“A total of 17 al Shabaab troops who were members of the explosive crew were killed by the airstrikes at two places called Kortole and Hirkut,” the Ministry of Defence Forces said on Monday in a statement.
Colonel Habtom Zenebe, deputy commander of the eastern division of the Ethiopian airforce said the extremist force was about to launch attack on Ethiopian army which was escorting artillery from Dolo Ado to the town Baidoa in the southwest of the country.
Members of the extremist group had planted explosives along the way but killed before they launch the attack on the Ethiopian army.
The Ethiopian force has cleared the explosives and accomplished its missions, the statement added.
So far, Al Shabaab has commented on nothing about the attack.
The U.S. military last week killed a high-ranking leader of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group with an airstrike in Somalia.
A statement by the U.S. Africa Command said Yusuf Jiis was one of three extremists killed in Thursday’s airstrike near Bush Madina in the Bay region.
Ethiopian troops crossed into Somalia ten years ago to assist a Somali government offensive against al-Shabaab militants.
Meanwhile, the government of Djibouti is engaged in the forced return of Ethiopian migrants as the number of COVID-19 patients in the tiny horn African nation is on the rise.
Source:-Wzwga News