MOGADISHU An al Shabaab chief, Moalim Osman Abdi Badil, and three fighters were killed in fighting in Lower Shabelle region on Friday, Somalia's information minister said in a statement on Sunday.
Milliken's family says he was "a devoted father and son, a true professional and a wonderful husband".
"This tragedy is a testament to the commitment and sacrifice of our USA military colleagues who work closely with their Somali and other African counterparts every day to end the destruction inflicted upon the Somali people by Al-Shabaab", Schwartz said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.
Milliken was assigned to an East Coast-based special warfare unit that was supporting Somali National Army-led operations.
Milliken's death marked the first American battlefield casualty in Somalia since the doomed "Black Hawk Down" mission in 1993 in which 18 American service members were killed in the capital of Mogadishu.
One U.S. service member was killed yesterday during an operation against al-Shabaab in a remote area of Shabeellaha Hoose in Somalia, approximately 40 miles west of Mogadishu.
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'His sacrifice is a stark reminder that Naval Special Operators are forward doing their job, confronting terrorism overseas to prevent evil from reaching our shores'.
Two American troops were also injured in the attack, Africa Command said. A Somalian intelligence official told Navy Times at least 6 terrorists were killed during the raid. While the USA military is still analyzing intelligence to find out if the targets of the mission were among the dead, the Somali government declared it a victory.
The spokesman for al Shabaab was not available for immediate comment.
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.
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.
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.
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