U.S Official: U.S. Troops Have Been 'Secretly' In Somalia Since 2007

A U.S. official is admitting that the U.S. has had troops in Somalia since 2007.

The troops–about 120 “on the ground”–“go beyond the Pentagon’s January announcement that it had sent a handful of advisers in October.”

According to Reuters, even the “handful of advisers” would have marked “the first assignment of U.S. troops to Somalia since 1993 when two U.S. helicopters were shot down and 18 American troops killed in the ‘Black Hawk Down’ disaster.”

In the coming fiscal year the unnamed U.S. official said we will see “greater military engagement and new funds for training and assistance for the Somali National Army (SNA).”

The 120 U.S. troops currently on the ground in Somalia are described as “trainers and advisers” and the official says, “They’re not involved in combat.”

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