Reuters reports that US aircraft struck an Al Shabbab training camp in Somalia yesterday in conjunction with ground forces supplied by the Somalia government;
The Pentagon estimated that the strike, in response to attacks in Somalia by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, killed eight militants.
The strike was the first by the United States in Somalia under new authorities granted by President Donald Trump in March and was conducted in coordination with regional partners, the Pentagon said. It was a drone strike, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
The Somalian government claims that the base was a major training camp and command/supply hub and so, the strike disrupted their ability to attack in the area.
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25 responses to “US airstrike in Somalia”
Wait, attacking a “…major training camp and command/supply hub…”???
What a novel idea!
/sarc
New boss.
New old rules. [Rule: we win, they lose.]
First guy to die, loses!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQw1Kd_Uv8Y
Well, well. Things really are moving along, aren’t they?
After 8 years of freedom of movement, “they” are now finding that they need to keep their heads on a swivel. Hell, they can’t even enjoy a nice goat humping without worrying. Our new leadership is putting a hurt on the bastards.
More magic tricks from #PresidentTrump…
POOF-you’re a pile of shit!
Scattered in pieces around a three acre area, gonna need a Shop Vac to find the parts !!!
Just let the dung beetles loose on the remains.
NO, leave the parts for the pigs!
Boom!
A bomb here and a bomb there and pretty soon you’re talkin’ some scared goat fuckers.
The more of them that are dead, the merrier, kill ’em all and let Satan eat their souls while vultures, maggots and wild dogs eat their carcasses.
Hey API, crabs gotta eat, same as vultures, maggots and wild dogs.
And they’re pretty tasty, too. Win-win!
Let’s kill ’em all, and let God sort them out. Personally, I’m for dumb bombs for dumb people.
No sense wasting high tech to move the dust and body parts around.
Killed 8(!?), for how many millions this strike probably cost? ‘A camp’ does not rate whatever the hell we hit them with. Just another war between $40m jets and ‘some guys in a truck,’ right?
Depends on which eight. But next time whistle up a C-130 and a MOAB.
Let’s see, Reaperman, what do you think the parents of those little girls killed for going to a concert would pay if they could go back in time and take out the camp that terrorist trained at while he was in the camp?
While proving counterfactuals is notoriously difficult, taking out guys who’ll train/coerce others, or who are being themselves trained, to slaughter innocents has the potential to be what saves scores of innocents.
Ahem.
As per the article posted above, this was a drone strike, so there were no ‘$40m jets’ involved.
And being that this was a drone strike, a Hellfire missile was probably the weapon that was employed. A Hellfire missile costs about $110,000 per round; it doesn’t cost ‘millions’.
A $110,000 Hellfire missile to permanently rid the world of 8 al Shabaab Islamic terrorist shitheads? Hell, that was worth every damn penny that was spent.
Mick, other options include a GBU-12 Paveway (~$22K), or a GBU-38 JDAM (~$25K). Kind of a moot point, as ammo is considered expended when issued to the end user, at least in my experience.
Either way, money well spent.
Yup; money well spent.
Boom.
They have to expend those rounds before the “Most Lethal Before Date”.
When I cut my next check to the IRS, I will remember the above article as a “warm fuzzy” as I sign it.
whoa. To clarify, I’m for taking out terrorists on their turf, but it’s hugely frustrating to me that we’re doing it with expensive and complex weapons of war designed to take out superpower-level military forces. Then they show what we’re generally hunting, and it often looks like a few ak’s and an rpg riding around in a pickup. I don’t expect us to send over cessnas with door gunners–but there’s got to be some kind of budget option. All this fancy stealth crap we’re building and I doubt any of those 8 schmoes could spell radar.
What is the cost of one SGLI payout? The total cost to train the man? His replacement?
Kinda cheap, one Hellfire missile compared to one man, eh?
Plus, the enemy has no real counter to it. They die, without hope of fighting their destroyer. Gotta suck.
When the enemy never knew you were there, and their last thought was “what?!?”, someone did their job properly.
Sums up my POV.
I hope that they were able to complete the allotment forms for the Al Shabbab Relief Fund before they made that last Permanent Change of Station.