The Pentagon has revealed that the United States now has some 500 troops on the ground in Somalia even as it denies a “build-up” of forces in the African country.
The Pentagon announced in a statement on Thursday that there were now more than 500 US troops on the ground in Somalia, Fox News reported on Friday. That would be a significant increase in the number of American soldiers in Somalia since early 2014, when roughly two dozen US troops arrived there for the first time since 1993.
US Africa Command has also said that there have been 28 US airstrikes in Somalia this year, mostly from drones and against purported al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants.
The US also carried out its first airstrike against purported Daesh positions in Somalia earlier this month.
Build-up in Africa
Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., who is the director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, at a press briefing on Thursday denied that the increase in the…