CIA officer killed during combat in Somalia

A senior Central Intelligence Agency officer was killed during combat in Somalia, according to reports. The officer was injured during a combat and later succumbed to his injuries.

The identity of the officer has not been made public but the source said the officer was a former Navy SEAL. The officer was wounded in an operation in the country and later died, the source said.

Over the weekend, Al-Shabaab claimed to have killed 12 US-trained Somali special forces and destroyed two of their vehicles in an IED attack near Baledogle airbase. The Navy SEAL team works closely with the Somali army and has been training them to build their own light infantry.

The CIA has not commented publicly on the death.

The veteran officer was a member of the CIA's Special Activities Center, a paramilitary branch that carries out some of the United States intelligence agency's most risky tasks, The New York Times said. It added that he was also a member of the CIA's paramilitary division.

The outgoing administration of President Donald Trump is considering withdrawing all U.S. forces from Somalia by the time he leaves office in January, the paper added.

In September, the agency tweeted that the wall featured 135 stars to honor the fallen officers.