Al-Shabab denies US strike in Somalia killed 150 fighters

Militant Islamist group al-Shabab has dismissed as exaggerated US claims that more than 150 of its fighters were killed in an air strike in Somalia. The militants do not meet in such large numbers in “one spot” because of the threat of an attack, a spokesman said. He did not give details of casualties.  A […]

Militant Islamist group al-Shabab has dismissed as exaggerated US claims that more than 150 of its fighters were killed in an air strike in Somalia.
The militants do not meet in such large numbers in “one spot” because of the threat of an attack, a spokesman said. He did not give details of casualties.  A resident said that al-Shabab had arrested several people from the remote central Somali village of Raso, after the US bombed its training camp in a nearby forested area on Saturday.
The US said the strike, by both drones and manned aircraft, was aimed at preventing a “large-scale attack” by the al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The US strike appeared to have led to heavy casualties, with al-Shabab reinforcements arriving to collect the dead, a resident said. On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said that initial assessments were that more than 150 fighters had been killed at the training facility.