US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had ordered military air strikes on a higher Islamic state attack planner and other people in Somalia.
“These killers, which we found hidden in caves, threatened the United States and our allies,” said Trump in an article on Truth Social. “The strikes have destroyed the caves in which they live and have killed many terrorists without, in any way, to harm civilians.”
Saturday strikes were carried out in the Golist mountains, said that the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who added that an initial assessment indicated that several agents had been killed. He said that no civilian had been injured.
Reuters could not independently verify these details.
An official of the Somali President’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed strikes and said that the Somalia government had greeted this decision.
“Somalia cannot be a safe refuge for terrorists,” said the manager, adding that the impact of strikes was still being evaluated.
Hegseth said strikes degrade the ability of the Islamic State “to trace and carry out terrorist attacks” threatening the United States, its partners and its innocent civilians.
“”[It] Sends a clear signal that the United States is always ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies, even if we carry out robust border protection and many other operations under the direction of President Trump ” , he said in a statement.
The United States has periodically carried out air strikes in Somalia for years, within the framework of republican and democratic administrations.
A strike, which also targeted Islamic State activists, was led by the United States in coordination with Somalia last year. He killed three members of the group, said the US military.
