US troops call in airstrike after they come under fire in Somalia

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 45%. (I'm a bot)

US Africa Command, which oversees US troops in the region, announced in a statement Thursday that the US had conducted three "Precision" airstrikes against al Shabaab militants in Somalia, killing seven fighters.

The joint US-Somali ground force returned fire in an attempt to neutralize the al Shabbab attackers but were unable to and the US troops called in the airstrike to defeat the threat.

"During the Somali-led counterterrorism operation, a group of armed al-Shabaab terrorists posed an imminent threat to Somali-led and US forces. In response, the US conducted a self-defense strike against the armed militant group to neutralize the threat," Samantha Reho, a spokesperson for Africa Command, told CNN. The strike was carried out under pre-existing self-defense authorities separate from the new authorities allowing US forces to target al Shabaab in offensive strikes, an authority granted by President Donald Trump in March.

The two additional strikes against the original objective of the raid were carried out under the new authorities, which permit such strikes in a geographically defined area.

"US forces work closely with Somali military forces against al-Shabaab in Somalia to degrade the al-Qaeda affiliate's ability to recruit, train, and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and in the United States," Africa Command said in its statement announcing the strike.

Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, who oversees US troops in Africa, told reporters in April that the US seeks to help Somali security forces gain the ability to provide for their own security by 2021..

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