US Solider injured in Somalia

The scene of the bombing. The Hill/Getty.

A US soldier was wounded and three local soldiers were killed in a car bombing in Somalia. The Hill. Two other local soldiers were wounded in the attack as well. Al-Shabaab, an ISIS affiliate, took credit for the attack. The attackers left the bomb outside of a base near Kismayu. Al-Shabaab claimed more casualties as well as claiming they destroyed several armored vehicles. US troops are stationed in Somalia to fight al-Shabaab. 

My Comment:

Al-Shabaab remains one of the most active ISIS affiliates and one of the few that are still capable of launching attacks. Though this one was fairly minor in the grand scheme of things it still shows that they exist and can pull off attacks. 

It's also good to remind people that we still have troops in Somalia. Indeed, we have troops all over Africa and for the most part people remain ignorant about it. These troops are putting their lives on the line but their wars remain largely in the background. 

This attack shows that there is a real chance of these troops coming to harm. The officer in this attack survived but three of his local comrades did die. My guess it was just luck that he wasn't one of them. A car bombing like this can obviously cause quite a bit of damage and it's fortunate that this attack wasn't worse then it was. 

Tracking down this bomb maker is going to be a major priority for the troops in Somalia. Making bombs is a skill and a good way to cut down on these kinds of attacks is to kill or capture the bomb maker. If the local troops can find and kill him it will go a long way in preventing further attacks. 

The good news is that in general terrorism isn't anywhere near as big as a threat as it once was. In the past an incident where one US troop was injured wouldn't even merit a response. With the main terror groups destroyed the threat is a lot lower then it was for a long time.