United States President Donald Trump, on Saturday, ordered the military to carry out air strikes on Islamic State group targets in Somalia.
“This morning, I ordered precision military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the strikes targeted IS-Somalia operatives in the Golis mountains in semi-autonomous Puntland region.
“Our initial assessment is that multiple operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed,” Hegseth said in a statement.
“This action further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians and sends a clear signal that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies.”
Islamic State has a relatively small presence in Somalia compared to the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab, but experts have warned of growing activity.
“The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!’” Trump said in his post.
US Special Forces killed a senior ISIS leader and 10 other militants in a raid on a mountain cave complex in a remote part of northern Somalia in 2023, in an operation ordered by former President Joe Biden
