US Soldier Killed By Extremists In Somalia

A US military service member has been killed in Somalia during an operation against the extremist group al-Shabab.

A statement from the US Africa Command said the service member was killed during an operation about 40m (64 km) west of the capital, Mogadishu.

The statement said US forces were conducting an advise-and-assist mission with Somalia's military.

President Donald Trump has approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab, including more aggressive air strikes and considering parts of southern Somalia areas of active hostilities.

Both the United States and Somalia have declared new efforts against the extremist group.

A Somali intelligence official confirmed the US military operation, saying US forces in helicopters raided an al-Shabab hideout near the Somali capital on Thursday night and engaged with fighters.

The official said the helicopters dropped soldiers near Dare Salaam village in an attempt to capture or kill extremists in the area and fighters mounted a stiff resistance against the soldiers.

Somalia's new Somali-American president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, last month declared a new offensive against al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia but has claimed responsibility for major attacks elsewhere in East Africa.

Also last month, the US military announced it was sending dozens of regular troops to Somalia in the largest such deployment to the Horn of Africa country in roughly two decades.

The US Africa Command said the deployment was for logistics training of Somalia's army.

The US has in recent years sent a small number of special operations forces and counter-terror advisers to Somalia and has carried out a number of airstrikes, including drone strikes, against al-Shabab.

The extremist group, which was chased out of Mogadishu years ago but continues to carry out deadly attacks there, has vowed to step up the violence in response to the moves by Mr Trump and Mr Mohamed.

Pressure is growing on Somalia's military to assume full security for the country as the 22,000-strong African Union multinational force that has been supporting the fragile central government plans to leave by the end of 2020.

The US military has acknowledged the problem. The AU force will begin withdrawing in 2018.

Head of the US Africa Command Commander General Thomas Waldhauser has said that if it leaves before Somalia's security forces are capable "large portions of Somalia are at risk of returning to al-Shabab control or potentially allowing ISIS to gain a stronger foothold".

Fighters linked to Islamic State are a relatively new and growing challenge in the north of the country, which has seen a quarter-century of chaos since dictator Siad Barre fell in 1991.

The United States pulled out of Somalia after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.