14 May, 2017
Milliken was part of the operation that had been coordinated between the Somali National Army and U.S. Africa Command. Publicly, this support includes aerial surveillance and drone strikes; sources suggest that it also includes the regular involvement of US special forces in covert raids.
Milliken's death marks the first American combat causality in Somalia since the failed "Black Hawk Down" mission in 1993. The Pentagon reported two other military members who were injured.
It was not clear whether the operation continued after the firefight or whether al-Shabab militants were killed or captured.
A small number of U.S. special operations soldiers have been in Somalia for years.
"Al-Shabab presents a threat to Americans and American interests", said the statement.
"U.S. forces are assisting partner forces to counter al-Shabab in Somalia to degrade the al-Qaeda affiliate's ability to recruit, train and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and in America", the statement added.
Omar Mohamud Elmi, the deputy governor of the Lower Shabelle region in Somalia, said the aim of the operation was to "surgically target" two elements: senior members of al-Shabab hiding in the area and a pro-al-Shabab media station. The group came under attack in the middle of the night.
The U.S. has been supporting Somalia's military with about 50 U.S. advisers in a mission that began several years ago.
Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman said the security forces killed Moalin Osman Abdi Badil alongside his three associates in a raid in Bariiree area, but did not indicate if the same raid involved USA forces.
Fighters linked to the Islamic State group are a relatively new and growing challenge in the north of the country, which has seen a quarter-century of chaos since dictator Siad Barre fell in 1991.
Starvation and war broadcast on American televisions put pressure on then President George H.W. Bush, who ordered U.S. troops to help with humanitarian shipments.
Known often for civil war, starvation, piracy and terrorism, Somalia has always been the poster child of a failed state.
African Union troops retook Mogadishu in 2011 and drove Shabab from many towns in the south, including major ports that had provided significant revenue. For many years, he operated with the elite Seal Team 6.
