Dozens of U.S. troops are being deployed to Somalia to train local forces to fight extremists, according to a report.
Voice of America reported Friday the troops are in Mogadishu to equip and train Somali and African Union troops fighting terrorists in Somalia.
“United States Africa Command will conduct various security cooperation and/or security force assistance events in Somalia in order to assist our allies and partners,” U.S. Africa Command spokesman Pat Barnes told Voice of America.
The announcement comes amid a busy week for U.S. military forces. President Trump ordered a missile strike on Syria last week, sent a carrier strike group toward North Korea this week and Thursday the U.S. dropped the second-biggest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal on ISIS-Khorasan tunnels in eastern Afghanistan.
The goal in Somalia is to help fight the extremist group al-Shabab. A few dozen troops from the 101st Airborne Division arrived in the Somali capital on April 2.
The U.S. usually has a small presence in Somalia, working as anti-terrorism advisers. The troops from the 101st will be the first deployment of American forces aside from those advisers since 1994.
The U.S. had a much larger presence as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the early 1990s. That presence began coming to an end when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down above Mogadishu during a military operation, leading to the death of 18 Americans in a 15-hour battle in the streets.
