WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Africa Command said on Tuesday that it had carried out the deadliest attack against the Islamist extremist group Shabab in nearly a year, killing about 60 fighters in central Somalia.

The strike took place Friday in the vicinity of Harardhere, about 300 miles northeast of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, the military said in a statement. Africa Command officials offered no other details except to say it did not kill or injure any civilians, suggesting the militants were in a camp or massing for an attack.

The strike came after a recent spate of attacks that the Shabab have conducted against Somali security forces and their American advisers across the country.

On Sept. 21, Shabab fighters attacked American and Somali troops 30 miles northwest of Kismayo. Ten days earlier, militants struck Somali and American forces in Mubarak, in central Somalia, killing one Somali soldier.