Mogadishu (Alshahid)-Senior Alshabab official said US drone attack killed 9 women and children and wounded 30 others on the outskirts of the Somalia port town, Kismayo.

The official, who sought to remain anonymous, said the said that the drone attacks were carried out early on Thursday.

Kismayo is the largest Somali port controlled by Alshabab and the surrounding areas host some of the largest military camps that the group operates.

Alshabab, listed by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization, controls much of southern Somalia.

Over the past few weeks, two US remote-controlled drones have crashed in Somalia.

The airstrike makes Somalia at least the sixth country where the United States is using drone aircraft to conduct lethal attacks, joining Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq and Yemen.