Fighter jets bombed an Al-Shabaab base in southern Somalia on Monday morning, residents said, as neighbouring Kenya continued its offensive against the militants.
Kenya, which has carried out air strikes in the past, did not immediately acknowledge responsibility.
Its troops entered Somalia 2011 vowing to wipe out the Al-Shabaab rebel group it accuses of being behind attacks on tourists, aid workers and security forces on its soil.
“We heard sounds of the jets and then bombs. We understood later that they were targeting an al Shabaab base in El-Ade village in Gedo region,” Abdi Farh Mohamed, a local resident, said.
“We don’t know the casualties as a result of the bombardment,” he said.
An African Union peacekeeping force is largely responsible for keeping Somalia’s transitional government from falling to Al Shabaab in the capital.
The Horn of Africa nation has not had a fully functioning government since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Government troops are attacking the Al-Shabaab alongside the Kenyans in southern Somalia.
On 15th January 2016, fighters from the Al-Shabaab group launched an attack on base for Kenyan troops in El-Adde where the group boasted to have killed over sixty Kenya soldiers.
The Kenyan army in Somalia used airpower to attack Al Shabaab positions, in response to a deadly attack on KDF base in El Adde town.
Kenya has 3,664 soldiers operating under the framework of AMISOM, who are in Lower and Middle Juba and Gedo regions.
