AMISOM: Airstrike Kills 50 al-Shabab in Somalia

Un migrant, mains sur la tête, contemple la frontière près d'un chemin de fer reliant la Serbie et la Hongrie, près de Horgos, Serbie, 15 septembre 2015.

The African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, has launched new airstrikes aimed at militant group al-Shabab.

AMISOM says the attack near the southern town of Jilib on Tuesday killed more than 50 al-Shabab insurgents. There has been no independent confirmation of the claim.

AMISOM said on its Twitter feed that the airstrike targeted a hideout where senior leaders and foreign fighters of the al-Qaida-linked militant group had gathered.

This is the second airstrike by AU forces against al-Shabab this week. On Sunday, Kenyan fighter jets bombed an al-Shabab base north of Jilib.

AMISOM forces have ousted the Islamist militants from several towns in southern and central Somalia this year. The insurgents who once controlled much of Somalia, have responded with periodic suicide attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere.

On Monday, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an ambush in the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera that killed up to 12 people.