The strike occurred Sunday near a small village called El Buur, located some 235 miles (375 kilometers) northeast of the capital Mogadishu. It is the seventh time this year that the US has struck Shabaab.

US Africa Command said the strike had been conducted in coordination with the Somali government, "killing five terrorists and destroying one vehicle."

The Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab was pushed out of the Somali capital in 2011 -- and subsequently other towns and cities -- by soldiers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

But the Islamists still hold sway in large parts of the countryside and launch regular gun and bomb attacks on government, military and civilian targets in Mogadishu and ambushes on military convoys and outposts.

Separately on Sunday, heavily armed Shabaab militants attacked an AMISON military camp outside Mogadishu, killing four Ugandan peacekeepers, according to the Ugandan military.