by Our Foreign Desk

SOMALIAN spy chiefs said yesterday that they had provided intelligence for a huge US air raid that killed around 150 alleged al-Shabab extremist militants.

The Pentagon revealed Saturday’s attacks by both manned aircraft and drones on Monday.

Navy Captain Jeff Davis claimed that militants gathered at Raso camp, 120 miles north of Mogadishu, were preparing to launch a large-scale attack, most likely against African Union or US personnel.

He said the woodland camp was destroyed with bombs and missiles and that the US military believed there were no civilian casualties.

An anonymous Somalian intelligence officer said yesterday his agency had helped the US pinpoint the camp, but gave no further details.

The announcement came as the White House said it would disclose its tally of the number of people — both combatants and civilians — killed in controversial US drone attacks since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

Presidential counterterrorism and security adviser Lisa Monaco said the report would be released “in the coming weeks” and followed by annual figures in coming years.

“We know that not only is greater transparency the right thing to do, it is the best way to maintain the legitimacy of our counterterrorism actions and the broad support of our allies,” Ms Monaco said at the Council on Foreign Relations.

As the locations — even at a national or regional level — of US air strikes are a state secret the details of each attack will not be released.Instead the White House will publish an aggregate of casualties in raids outside areas of “active hostilities” — which include Iraq and Syria.

“There will obviously be some limitations on where we can be transparent, given a variety of sensitivities — including diplomatic,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Al-Shabab supported Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which overthrew the western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) government and the Mogadishu warlords in June 2006, only to be overthrown by invading Ethiopian troops backed by US special forces and aircraft.

Al-Shabab continued fighting the government and African Union peacekeepers after the ICU was co-opted into the TFG in 2009.