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The United States military on Saturday conducted air strikes on Islamic State group targets in Somalia, President Donald Trump announced.
“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.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes targeted IS-Somalia operatives in the Golis mountains in the 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.
Local commanders confirmed the strikes to AFP.
“We don’t know so far the number of the casualties, but we believe the missiles precisely hit the targets,” a military commander in the Bossaso area, Mohamed Ali, told AFP by phone.
“We believe there are casualties of the terrorist leaders, including the foreigners who the Puntland forces were chasing in the last few days,” he said.
Another member of the army in a nearby area, Abdirahman Adan said they heard “five loud explosions” and saw smoke over the targeted area.
Puntland has not commented officially about the airstrike so far.
Hegseth said the strikes further degrade “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.
AFP
Pascal Arogorn Ibe
