NAIROBI, Kenya: US military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a US drone strike targeted a group of insurgents, Somalia’s defense minister told The Associated Press on Friday.

The operation is at least the second time US troops have landed in Somalia after a targeted strike, though no forces have been stationed there since shortly after the “Black Hawk Down” battle that left 18 Americans dead in 1993.

Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi called on the US to carry out more airstrikes against the Al-Qaeda-linked militants, though he admitted that Somali officials appear to have launched Raven drones, body armor, night-vision gear, communications and heavy construction equipment, generators and surveillance systems.

300 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda disembark in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Friday as part of new 3,000 force being deployed to replace soldiers returning home after serving in Somalia. (AP)