President of the United States Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Armed Forces carried out airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Somalia. This was reported by Bloomberg on Saturday, February 1.
“This morning, I ordered precise airstrikes against a high-ranking ISIS attack planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia. These killers, who we found in the caves where they were hiding, posed a threat to the United States and our allies,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The American president noted that many terrorists were killed as a result of the strikes and the caves where they were hiding were destroyed. According to Trump, the strikes did not cause any harm to civilians.
Donald Trump did not specify whether the unnamed ISIS organizer was killed in the airstrike. The White House National Security Council declined to identify the target.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that this operation took place in the Golis mountains.
Additionally, the ISIS presence in Somalia emerged in 2015 as a splinter group from the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, which is the East African branch of Al-Qaeda. According to the International Crisis Group, the number of Islamic State militants in the country is around a hundred individuals. The most active terrorists are in Puntland, particularly in the Galgala mountains, where they have established hideouts and training camps. The movement is led by Abdul Qadir Mu'min.
CBS News, citing American military sources, writes that ISIS cells are receiving increasing directives from the group's leadership, particularly on how to kidnap citizens of Western countries for ransom, improve military tactics, evade drones, and construct their own small drones.
As reported by ZAXID.NET, on December 19, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province. The attack resulted in the deaths of two Islamic State (ISIS) militants, including the group's leader Abu Yusuf, also known as Mahmoud.