Somali government officials said that commandos in helicopters raided a militant base in the village of Awdhegle in the lower Shabelle region, nearly 40 miles west of Mogadishu. The commandos landed a few miles outside the village before advancing on the base, killing 19 militants in the operation, officials said.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said that American attack helicopters were used in the operation, and that American military personnel had accompanied Somali troops but that they did not “go all the way to the objective.”
He would not say whether the Americans stayed on the helicopters throughout the operation.
“I can tell you that U.S. military personnel served in an advisory role to enable the Somali operation,” he said, but insisted that “it was their mission. We were acting in an advisory role.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/world ... trike.html
