In a move to stop what the U.S. military says was an imminent threat against U.S. troops and African peacekeeping forces in Somalia, a U.S. drone strike in Somalia killed as many as 150 suspected Al Shabaab fighters, the Pentagon said Monday.
The strike took place Saturday, 120 miles north of Mogadishu at a training site called “Raso Camp,” according to Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis.
The camp had been under observation by U.S. special operations forces for several weeks, Davis said. The camp had about 200 fighters on site including Shabaab trainers.
Intelligence indicated the group was training for some time and was in the final stages of getting ready to conduct a “large-scale attack,” Davis said. He would not specify the location of where the U.S. thought an attack might happen, but it is well-known the U.S. maintains a small military presence at the airport in Mogadishu and that small numbers of U.S. special operations forces have traveled to other locations in the country.
A death toll of 150 would be by far the deadliest drone strike on record, according to the New America Foundation, which maintains an extensive drone strike database.