14 May, 2017
The family is asking for privacy from the community during this time.
The U.S. Navy SEAL killed during operations in Africa Friday has been identified.
Navy SEAL Kyle Milliken was the USA service member who died in Somalia Thursday in an operation against terrorist group al-Shabab, the Pentagon revealed Saturday.
Another American soldier died Saturday in Iraq. "He is irreplaceable as a husband, father, son, friend, and teammate - and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and teammates", Rear Admiral Timothy Szymanski, Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, said.
Both Somalia and the US are stepping up efforts against the Somalia-based al-Shabab, which has carried out attacks in other parts of East Africa and continues to target the Somali capital with deadly bombings.
He said the Americans were there to "advise and assist" the Somali government troops and were not part of the team assigned to enter the compound.
The U.S. had said last month that it was sending dozens of regular troops to Somalia in the largest such deployment there in about two decades.
A Somali intelligence official said US forces killed at least six people during the raid on a building housing the al-Shabab extremist group's Andalus radio station at a farm near Dare Salaam village, according to the Associated Press.
A Somali soldier patrols next to the burnt-out wreckage of a vehicle that was used by suspected al-Shabab fighters on April 16, 2017.
Al-Shabab via its Shahada News Agency said "an air landing operation by US special forces was thwarted in Lower Shabelle province and a number of their soldiers were killed and wounded", the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
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 Trump and Mohamed. "The expanded authorities were not applicable to this situation", said Patrick Barnes, a Africa Command spokesman. His killing marks the first USA military combat death in that country since 1993.
He was killed, and two other SEALs were injured during a gunfight with the Islamic terror group, marking the first American combat fatality in Somalia since the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" battle.
The identity of the fallen US service member is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The mission was not being carried out under the new expanded authorities granted by the Trump administration for the US military to conduct offensive counterterrorism airstrikes in Somalia targeting al-Shabab, according to the USA official.
Davis said al-Shabaab is an al-Qaida affiliate closely tied more specifically to Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is a group that has murdered Americans, radicalized and recruited terrorists and fighters in the United States, and has conducted and inspired attacks against Americans and USA interests around the world.
