US military strike kills IS members in Somalia
Publish date: 03 February 2025
Issue Number: 1111
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: General
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, according to BBC News. ‘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!’ 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’. 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.