The White House on Wednesday defended its decision to move forward with a drone strike on suspected Al Qaeda militants who have targeted the U.S. on multiple occasions in the past.

The Obama administration has been weighing drone strikes in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Somalia and Pakistan since late last year.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in March to authorize a U.K. strike on a suspected Al-Shabaab militant base in Somalia.

The administration said Thursday that the strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia are in response to the ongoing terrorist attacks by the terror group.