airport in Mogadishu; advising and assisting, Kenyan, Somali and Ugandan forces in their fight against Al-Shabaab. Also in that month, U.S. personnel helped those forces plan an operation against illegal checkpoints. On 12 May 2016, a small group of U.S. military advisers accompanied some Ugandan soldiers during a raid on an illegal taxation checkpoint just west of Mogadishu, when the Ugandans came under fire from 15 to 20 al Shabaab militants, the U.S. commander on the ground called in a "defensive" airstrike, killing five militants and wounding two more. Two days previously, the U.S. provided helicopters and advise and assist in support of a Somali military mission against a group of al Shabaab militants, which one defense official said was also defensive because they had intelligence that the al Shabaab fighters were planning an attack on the AMISOM installation nearby. No word on how many al Shabaab were killed or wounded in that operation. On 13 May, a U.S. strike targeted nine al-Shabab militants, three of them were allegedly killed. On the night of 31 May 2016, two senior Al-Shabaab operatives; Mohamud Dulyadeyn, the plotter behind the Garissa University attack in April 2015 and Maalim Daud, head of Al-Shabaab's intelligence hit squads and another 16 members from Al-Shabaab were killed by the Somali National Army and anti-terror partners. Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza told CNN "U.S. forces supported this Somali-led operation in an advise-and-assist role,". On 1 June 2016, Al Shabaab militants attacked with a car bomb on the gate of Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. At least 15 people have been killed in the attack, among 10 civilian pedestrians and two members of parliament near the gate. Also that day, the Pentagon announced that it had conducted an airstrike that killed a senior Al-Shabaab leader in Somalia on 27 May. On 3 August 2016, a contingent of elite American troops acting as military advisers assisted Somali commandos in an assault on an al-Shabaab checkpoint in Saakow, as the Somali-led force approached the checkpoint the militants opened fire, a gun battle ensued that resulted in 3 militants killed. On 29 September 2016, a Somali regional government demanded an explanation from the United States after an airstrike killed 22 civilians and other soldiers instead of the targeted al-Shabab militants in Galmudug. The Military Times also reported that on 26 September a bomb-manufacturing network linked al-Shabaab attacked a small