missions of Britons believed to be travelling to Somalia for terrorist training and they are also working with US counterparts observing and "targeting" local terror suspects. They have also been carrying out a similar role in Yemen. In May 2016, it was reported that 70 UK military personnel have arrived in Somalia to counter Al-Shabaab as part of a UN peacekeeping mission; 10 soldiers will offer medical, engineering and logistical support to AMISOM. Personnel will also be sent to South Sudan to carry out a similar role. On 16 October 2016, the New York Times reported that American officials said the White House had quietly broadened the president's authority for the use of force in Somalia by allowing airstrikes to protect American and African troops as they combat fighters from al-Shabaab. About 200 to 300 American Special Operations troops work with soldiers from Somalia and other African nations like Kenya and Uganda to carry out more than a half-dozen raids per month, according to senior American military officials. The operations are a combination of ground raids and drone strikes. SEAL Team 6 has been heavily involved in many of these operations. American military officials said once ground operations are complete, American troops working with Somali forces often interrogate prisoners at temporary screening facilities, including one in Puntland, before the detainees are transferred to more permanent Somali-run prisons. The Pentagon has only acknowledged a small fraction of these operations, announcing 13 ground raids and airstrikes so far in 2016 (3 of which took place in September) — up from 5 in 2015; according to data compiled by New America (a Washington Think tank) the strikes have killed about 25 civilians and 200 people suspected of being militants. At a former Russian fighter jet base in Baledogle, U.S. Marines and private contractors are working to build up a Somali military unit designed to combat Al-Shabaab throughout the country. On 30 March 2017, CNN reported that US President Donald Trump signed off a decision by the White House which approved a new strategy granting AFRICOM the authority to step up counterterrorism strikes in Somalia; under the new strategy, the US military will now be able to conduct precision airstrikes in support of the Somalia National Army and AMISOM forces. The new authorization designates some regions of Somalia an "area of active hostilities," freeing counterterrorism strikes there from restrictions governing other strikes outside the