US withdraws troops from military base in Somalia

The US military has withdrawn all its units stationed at Baledogle Air Base in southern Somalia, the US publication Stars and Stripes reports.

The air base, approximately 96km north-west of the country’s capital, Mogadishu, has long been an important base for US forces in Somalia.

It has been used to gather intelligence and train Somali units as part of the ongoing fight against militants from the Islamist group al-Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow the country’s government.

US Africa Command (AFRICOM) declined to comment to the publication on the decision to withdraw US troops.

“In the interests of operational security, we do not discuss the details of ongoing operations,” an AFRICOM spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the command was “repositioning its forces to optimise ongoing counterterrorism operations”.