US forces carried out a defensive strike against al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia earlier this week, killing three. The June 21 defensive fire came after it was determined the group was planning to attack US forces who are supporting Somalia’s government, according to a US Africa Command release. US aircraft have repeatedly struck al-Shabaab in recent months. In March, manned and unmanned aircraft struck a training camp inside Somalia, reportedly killing 150 fighters. A March 31 airstrike killed senior al-Shabaab leader Hassan Ali Dhoore. In May, US forces targeted Abdullahi Haji Da’ud, a senior military commander, but the Pentagon has not announced whether he died in the strike. (See also: Changing Tactics in Somalia.)
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…