A US drone strike has killed more than 150 Al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia, according to the Pentagon.

Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the strike hit a training camp where a “large-scale” attack was being planned.

“We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces,” Captain Davis said. “There was a sense that the operational phase was about to happen.”

He said the terrorists had neared the completion of specialist training to conduct “offensive operations,” but did not give any details about the alleged terror plot.

“Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated,” he added.

Davis said the strike, on Saturday, targeted a camp about 120 miles (195 kilometers) north of the capital, Mogadishu.

The camp had been under surveillance for some time ahead of the drone strike, he said.

Al Shabaab, an affiliate of Al Qaeda, seeks to overthrow the Western-backed government of Somalia.

It took responsibility for several recent attacks, including a bombing at a restaurant in the Somali city of Baidoa last month.