US drone raid kills 9 Somali civilians

A US assassination drone attack has killed at least 9 civilians and left 28 others wounded in south Somalia, Press TV reports. According to witnesses, the terror attack took place near the southern Somali town of Kulbiyow on Tuesday. Meanwhile, informed sources at the southern border town of Dhobley have confirmed that more than 700 Kenyan forces that had entered Somalia to fight al-Shabab militants are retreating towards the Kenyan territory following threats of retaliation. Last month, Kenya dispatched soldiers over its border into Somalia to pursue al-Shabab militants, who have been acused of being behind the kidnapping of several foreigners on its territory. Al-Shabab has denied any involvement in such incidents. Additionally on Sunday, United Nations Political Office for Somalia met with the country's civil society and rights groups in a bid to solve the decades-long crisis in the war-torn nation. Somalia is the sixth country, where the United States has used assassination drones to launch missile strikes. The US military has also used drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen. Washington claims the airstrikes target militants, though civilians constitute the majority of the victims of such attacks. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, the country remains among the ones generating the highest number of refugees and internally-displaced persons in the world.