militants in Somalia, officials say.
The Pentagon is assessing the results of Monday's operation before
releasing details, a spokesman said.
However a US official quoted by the American media said "a senior
al-Shabab operative" had been targeted.
The al-Qaeda-linked group lost control of Mogadishu to an African
Union force in 2011 but still hold many southern and central areas.
"We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide
additional information as and when appropriate," Pentagon spokesman
John F Kirby said in a statement.
Residents of Hawai village, some 240km (150 miles) south of the
capital, Mogadishu say they heard three loud explosions and then saw
thick black smoke rising.
One resident told the BBC he had seen the burnt-out remains of a car
and three trucks but he was not able to see if there were any bodies
inside.
The American action comes after al-Shabab rebels attacked a detention
centre in Mogadishu on Sunday, in an apparent effort to free other
militants detained there.
Somali officials said all of the attackers, as well as three
government soldiers and two civilians, were killed.
The Pentagon and the US state department have supported the
22,000-member AU force that drove al-Shabab from their former
strongholds in the capital and other urban centres.
The militants continue to carry out bombings and assassinations in the city.
Al-Shabab fighters want to overthrow the internationally supported
Somali government and frequently attack government targets as well as
neighbouring countries that provide troops to the AU force.
The group said it carried out last year's attack on the Westgate mall
in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in which at least 67 people were
killed.
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