MOGADISHU, Somalia – The United States military for the second straight day is announcing a drone strike that killed al-Shabab extremists in Somalia. The U.S. Africa Command says the strike on Wednesday killed four "terrorists" near Jamaame in Lower Juba region in the south. The statement says the U.S. assesses no civilians were killed. The U.S. on Wednesday said a drone strike killed three al-Shabab extremists near Jilib town in Middle Juba region earlier this week. This latest U.S. drone strike is the fifth this year in Somalia.

That's how Hassan Yakub, al-Shabab's most senior leader in Somalia's Galgaduud region, responded when I requested that we use a drone to film his fighters at one of the armed group's training camps. Over the past few years, drone strikes have killed dozens of al-Shabab fighters, including the group's former leader and at least 10 of its senior commanders. The last drone hit to target the al-Qaeda-linked group's leaders happened just a month ago, in the East African country's Lower Juba region. Al-Shabab fighters have been trained to hide from drones or, if the unmanned aircraft are low enough, to shoot them down. Our cameraman was also not enthusiastic about taking a drone to an area controlled by al-Shabab.