The U.S. military conducted an airstrike in southern Somalia on Sunday against a suspected militant leader , a U.S. military official told CNN . The target was described by the official as a `` senior leader '' affiliated with al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab , al Qaeda 's affiliate in Somalia . The United States has not yet been able to determine whether the target was killed , the official said . Last October , the elite U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six aborted a pre-dawn raid in southern Somalia to capture Al-Shabaab leader Ikrima after an intense firefight prevented them from reliably taking him alive , a senior U.S. official told CNN at the time . In a second raid that same weekend , members of the U.S. Army Delta Force captured Abu Anas al Libi , an al Qaeda operative wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa , during an operation in the Libyan capital of Tripoli . The U.S. military official said Sunday 's strike involved missiles . No U.S. troops were on the ground . Al-Shabaab , designated a terrorist organization by the United States , has a relationship with al Qaeda that goes back several years . In 2012 , the two groups effectively merged , said CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen . Bergen : How Al-Shabaab picks its targets . Al-Shabaab hopes to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state but has launched attacks in other countries as well . In 2010 , Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in Kampala , Uganda , amid crowds of soccer fans watching televised screenings of the World Cup final . The bombings left 74 people dead . The group said at the time the attacks were retaliation for Ugandan participation in the African Union Mission in Somalia , known as AMISOM . One AMISOM goal is to support Somali government forces in cracking down on Al-Shabaab . Al-Shabaab has also mounted many smaller attacks against targets in Kenya , hurling hand grenades into nightclubs , restaurants and schools . The group has also kidnapped tourists and aid workers . The group claimed responsibility for the September siege of the Westgate mall in Nairobi on September 21 that killed at least 67 people . Al-Shabaab said the attack was retaliation for Kenya 's involvement in the African Union effort against the group . In recent months , Al-Shabaab 's haven in south-central Somalia has been increasingly squeezed as Kenyan forces fight the group from the south and African Union forces come down from Mogadishu , the Somali capital . Somalia warns telecom companies not to comply with Al-Shabaab Internet ban . Ex-U.S. soldier accused of trying to join al Shabaab gets 7 years . Syria , U.S. surveillance in focus in group 's annual rights report .
The U.S. has n't determined whether the strike 's target was killed . The target is described as a `` senior leader '' affiliated with al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab . An October U.S. raid to capture an Al-Shabaab leader was aborted .