"In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US Africa Command conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab terrorists who engaged Somali National Army partner forces on patrol near Bacaw, Somalia," the release said. "At this time, it is assessed this precision airstrike killed three militants."

The airstrike comes a day after at least three people were killed and three others were injured in an alleged terrorist attack on a bus carrying more than 40 passengers in Kenya. No group claimed responsibility, but the ambush is reminiscent to similar attacks by al-Shabaab militants along the bus route.

Somalia has been engulfed in violence since the eruption of a civil war between clan-based armed groups in the early 1990s.

The situation has been further complicated by al-Shabaab militants, who are staging numerous attacks across the country in an attempt to impose a radical version of Sharia law in the country and have conducted numerous attacks against non-Muslims near the Kenyan-Somali border.