The U.S. military says it has carried out an airstrike outside Somalia's capital that killed 12 al-Shabab extremists.

The U.S. Africa Command has carried out at least 15 such airstrikes this year against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, which continues to hold some rural areas of the Horn of Africa nation.

Dozens of U.S. airstrikes were carried out last year after the Trump administration approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab, which was blamed for an October truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 500 people.

The new statement says the U.S. military assesses that no civilians were killed in Thursday's strike about 30 miles southwest of Mogadishu. The U.S. has faced accusations in recent months of killing civilians in joint operations with Somali forces against al-Shabab.