Trump says he ordered air strikes on Islamic State group in Somalia

Donald Trump says he ordered military air strikes on a senior attack planner and others from the Islamic State (IS) group in Somalia.

"These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies," Trump posted on social media.

"The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians."

In a post on X, the office of the president of Somalia said they had been informed of the US strike targeting senior IS leadership in the northern part of the country.

The BBC could not independently verify reports of casualties.

Trump did not name any of the people targeted in strikes.

The president ended the post with: "The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that "WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!"

In a post on X, the office of Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said he "acknowledges the unwavering support of the United States in the fight against international terrorism and welcomes the continued commitment under the decisive leadership of President Donald Trump".

The post also said the latest operation "reinforces the strong security partnership between Somalia and the United States in combating extremist threats".

In a statement, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said "our initial assessment is that multiple operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed".

Hegseth said the strikes "further degrade" the ability of IS "to plot and conduct terrorist attacks" and "sends a clear signal that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists".

He said the strikes were carried out in the Golis mountains, in north-east Somalia.

The government of Puntland, a region of north-east Somalia, thanked "international friends" who participated in the airstrikes that "killed high-ranking members" of IS.

IS rose to international prominence in the 2010s, particularly in Syria and Iraq, but now its presence is mainly restricted to parts of Africa.

The Somali branch of IS was formed in 2015 by a group of defectors from the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabab group - the largest jihadist group in Somalia.

IS in Somalia is notorious for extorting locals and mainly carries out small-scale, sporadic attacks, according to the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Trump in his statement on Saturday also took a swipe at the former administration, stating the US military had targeted this particular IS planner for years, but accused Joe Biden "and his cronies" of not acting quickly enough "to get the job done. I did!"

US forces killed IS leader, Bilal al-Sudani, and 10 of his operatives in a remote mountainous cave in northern Somalia in 2023, in an operation ordered by Biden.

One of the last actions Trump took when he left the White House in 2020 was to pull hundreds of US troops out of Somalia. He has now ordered the first attacks on the nation less than two weeks after his return.

Trump maintains he does not want the US involved in other countries' conflicts, while Biden had wanted to wind down America's involvement in post 9/11 conflicts.

But Somalia is seen differently by Washington. The US has invested massively in the country for decades, to contain the threat posed by al-Shabab.

Trump ordered strikes in his first term, despite pulling troops out in the eleventh hour of his presidency. Biden reversed that decision when he took over in 2021 in order to keep a continuous US presence. So far in his second term, Trump has kept troops there.

But it is likely he may eventually take a different approach, not just on Somalia but the African continent as a whole. His former defence secretary, Mark Esper, said in his memoir that Trump "didn't see much value" in having any Americans – military personnel or diplomats – anywhere on the continent.

This may be more so the case with Somalia where al-Shabab are seemingly growing more resilient, and the US may decide it is not worth it.

Trump 1.0 saw him de-prioritising US outreach to Africa - he hosted two Sub-Saharan African leaders but never visited the continent.

Trump 2.0 will likely view Africa through a competitive lens, due to US adversaries Russia and China hugely expanding their trade influence on the continent.