The US has launched three more airstrikes in Somalia over three consecutive days, according to press releases from US Africa Command, as the Trump administration continues to bomb the country at a record pace.
AFRICOM said that it launched an airstrike on October 26 that targeted al-Shabaab about 25 miles north of the southern port city of Kismayo. That same day, the US-backed Somali government said a “precision airstrike” killed an al-Shabaab leader, though the town it said he was targeted in, Bu’ale, is more than 100 miles north of Kismayo, so it’s unclear if it was the same strike.
AFRICOM offered no other details about the strike as it stopped sharing casualty estimates and assessments on potential civilian harm earlier this year. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” the command said.
The command also announced two separate strikes in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region, launched on October 27 and October 28. AFRICOM said both strikes targeted the ISIS affiliate in the region and were launched about 53 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bosasso, and shared no other details.
Puntland is not under the control of the US-backed federal government, so the US backs local forces in the region. AFRICOM previously announced airstrikes in Puntland on October 24 and October 26 as Puntland’s security forces said they were intensifying operations against ISIS fighters hiding in caves in the Cal-Miskaad mountains.
Puntland officials claim that the ISIS militants are largely defeated, something they’ve been saying for months. But local sources told Garowe Online that the militants are still entrenched in the area and have resorted to guerrilla tactics and are constantly moving between caves and valleys.
The US has dramatically increased its airstrikes in Somalia this year, and the latest three strikes bring the total number of US bombings in the country this year to 89. The Trump administration has shattered the previous annual record for US airstrikes in Somalia, which President Trump set at 63 back in 2019. For context, President Biden launched a total of 51 airstrikes in Somalia throughout his four years in office, and President Obama launched 48 over eight years.
The US has been fighting against al-Shabaab since the group first emerged in 2007, a year after the US backed an Ethiopian invasion that ousted the Islamic Courts Union, a Muslim coalition that briefly held power in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab was the radical offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union, and its first recorded attack was a suicide bombing that targeted Ethiopian troops occupying Mogadishu. The ISIS affiliate the US is fighting in Puntland started as an offshoot of al-Shabaab and first emerged in 2015.
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