To Ambush and Kill an American Green Beret, Al Shabaab Diverted a River by Christina Goldbaum - The Daily Beast
The American soldier killed in Southern Somalia on Friday was part of a joint operation which had been in the works for years, The Daily Beast has learned. And by the time it began, the enemy was ready and waiting.
According to a U.S. Africa Command press release, combined force of Somalis, Kenyans, and Americans was conducting a multi-day operation to liberate villages in Lower Juba from Al Shabaab control and establish “a permanent combat outpost designed to increase the span of Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) security and governance.” Al Shabaab has been waging an insurgency to create an Islamic state in Somalia since 2006. In 2012, the group pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda…
African Union peacekeepers and American officials have told The Daily Beast that the mission’s objective was to establish a combat outpost intended to remedy problems American and partnered forces have had holding terrain retaken from Al Shabaab.
According to locals in the area, however, the increased presence of allied forces in recent weeks put Al Shabaab militants on high alert. The militants diverted water from the Jubba River to flood the area, compelling the joint force to build the combat outpost on a piece of higher ground where they were then ambushed on Friday…