Donald Trump has said “many” ISIS terrorists have been killed in caves in Somalia by US airstrikes he ordered this morning.
Posting on his social media site Truth Social, the US president said: “This morning I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia.
“These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies.
“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.”
Mr Trump did not name any of the people targeted in the strikes, say whether the target was among those killed, or give further details about the location.
Security forces patrol after ISIS base in Somalia captured. Pic: Feisal Omar/Reuters
Security forces gather after capturing an ISIS base. Pic: Feisal Omar/Reuters
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes by the US Africa Command were directed by Mr Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government.
An initial Pentagon assessment indicated “multiple” operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed.
Mr Hegseth said the strikes degrade ISIS’s ability “to plot and conduct terrorist attacks” threatening the US, its
partners and innocent civilians.
“(It) sends a clear signal that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies, even as we conduct robust border-protection and many other operations under President Trump’s leadership,” he said in a statement.
Donald Trump says ISIS terrorists killed in caves. File pic: AP
The office of Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said the operation “reinforces the strong security partnership” between the two countries in “combating extremist threats.”
In a post on X, it said Somalia “remains resolute in working with its allies to eliminate international terrorism and ensure regional stability.”
Mr Trump said the US military had targeted the attack planner for years, but former president Joe Biden “and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done”.
“I did! The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!'”
But the US has periodically carried out strikes in Somalia for years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, including Mr Biden’s.
Trump made the announcement on his social media platform. Pic: Truth Social
A US military airstrike last May targeted ISIS militants and killed three, according to the US Africa Command.
US special forces also 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 Mr Biden.
The latest operation came after military airstrikes on 30 January in northwest Syria, which killed a senior operative in Hurras al Din, an al Qaeda affiliate, US Central Command said.
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US military officials have warned ISIS cells have received increasing direction from the group’s leadership that relocated to northern Somalia.
That has included how to kidnap Westerners for ransom, how to learn better military tactics, how to hide from drones and how to build their own small quadcopters.
There are estimated to be hundreds of ISIS militants in Somalia, mostly scattered in the Cal Miskaat mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, according to the International Crisis Group.
