Johannesburg, Feb 2 (AP) The United States military says it has killed 13 members of the al-Shabab extremist group with an airstrike 30 miles (48 kilometres) outside Somalia's capital.

A US Africa Command statement says Friday's strike occurred near Gandarshe in Lower Shabelle region. The statement says the al-Qaida-linked fighters have used Gandarshe as a staging area for bombings in the capital, Mogadishu.

A half-dozen US airstrikes in December killed 62 al-Shabab fighters near Gandarshe as they were preparing to attack a Somali military base.

This is the 10th US airstrike this year in Somalia. It carried out nearly 50 strikes last year in the Horn of Africa nation against al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.

A strike on Thursday killed 24 al-Shabab fighters in neighbouring Hiran region. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)