Washington (agencies)
The US military announced in a statement yesterday that two US Navy personnel were missing off the coast of Somalia since last Thursday evening. The US military command explained, “A search and rescue operation is underway to locate the two sailors, and for operational security reasons, we will not publish any additional information until the rescue operation is completed.”
The two sailors work in the US Fifth Fleet, stationed in Bahrain and deployed in a wide area that includes parts of the Indian Ocean.
The US military has been carrying out operations in Somalia for several years, in cooperation with the Somali army and on behalf of the government. It mainly launches air strikes targeting the terrorist movement Al-Shabaab, which is linked to Al-Qaeda.
In mid-December, a prominent Al-Shabaab leader believed to have masterminded an attack that targeted a US-Kenyan military base in eastern Kenya in 2020, was killed in an air strike carried out by Washington “in coordination with the federal government in Somalia,” according to the US military command.
The terrorist Al-Shabaab movement has been fighting the Somali federal government, supported by the international community, for more than 16 years.
Washington has classified the movement as a terrorist organization since 2008.
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