Somalia

Navy SEAL killed in action in Somalia

The US service member killed in action was a Navy SEAL, a US defense official told CNN.

Somalia conflict: US suffers rare combat loss in al-Shabab clash

This happened on Thursday during operations against al-Shabab militants about 64km (40 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu, near the town of Barii, the US military says.

Two other US service members were hurt.

US forces were on an "advise and assist" mission with the Somali National Army, the US military says.

Hijacked ship's crew rescued from pirates near Somalia

Maritime officials received an alert on Saturday that pirates had boarded the timber-carrying ship about 75 miles (120km) from the coast of Yemen.

Ships from three countries diverted to its path. A Chinese team boarded the vessel early on Sunday.

The first hijacking by Somali pirates in five years occurred last month, but this is the second raid since then.

Attack on refugee boat off Yemen leaves dozens dead

Coast guard Mohamed al-Alay told Reuters the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were on their way from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Mohammed Abdiker, emergencies director at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said 42 bodies had been recovered.

He said the attack at around 3:00am on Friday (local time) was "totally unacceptable" and that responsible combatants should have checked who was aboard the boat "before firing on it".

UN: World facing greatest humanitarian crisis since 1945

UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said that more than 20 million people faced the threat of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.

Unicef has already warned 1.4m children could starve to death this year.

Mr O'Brien said $4.4bn (£3.6bn) was needed by July to avert disaster.

"We stand at a critical point in history," Mr O'Brien told the Security Council on Friday. "Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations."

Al-Shabab fighters attack Kenya military base in Somalia

The al-Qaeda-linked group says it has killed more than 50 soldiers and seized military vehicles and weapons.

But a Kenyan military spokesman said the dawn attack was repelled, the base was not overrun and scores of insurgents were killed in the fighting.

A year ago al-Shabab carried out a similar attack on a Kenyan base in the town el-Ade.

In that raid the Islamist group said it had killed more than 100 soldiers, but the Kenyan government refused to give its casualty figures.

Somalia hotel truck bomb toll rises to 15

Senior police official Capt. Mohammed Hussein said the toll has risen to 15. "This is a very worrying situation," he said as he stood outside the Hotel Jazeera near a dead body. "This happened despite all the security precautions in place."

In a visit to neighbouring Ethiopia, U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday the bombing is a reminder "we have more work to do" in stemming terrorism in the region and that groups like al-Shabab offer nothing but destruction.