Report: Ethiopian Airstrike Kills 70 al-Shabaab in Somalia

State media claims Shabaab forces were going to attack Ethiopian AU troops

Reports from Ethiopian state media say that an airstrike against vehicles they believe to have belonged to al-Shabaab killed 70 militants inside Somalia. Details are scant, and officials don’t say where the attack took place.

The port quoted Brig. Gen. Yilma Medrassa from the Ethiopian Air Force as saying they achieved 100% of their plans with the strikes. The report says two vehicles full of weapons wee destroyed, and that everyone killed was with al-Shabaab.

Furthermore, the report claimed that the targeted militants were going to attack Ethiopian troops within the African Union force inside Somalia. This likely is just being mentioned as a legal pretext for the airstrike, as the US similarly makes such claims when there are airstrikes in Somalia.

Ethiopia has repeatedly invaded Somalia since 2006, mostly intending to prop up some wound-be government in Somalia, and sometimes to wipe out various Islamist groups that were either predecessors to al-Shabaab, or al-Shabaab themselves.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.