The US launched an airstrike in Somalia’s Puntland region against the small ISIS affiliate that’s based there, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a press release over the weekend.
AFRICOM claimed its “initial assessment” found the strike killed one ISIS fighter and that no civilians were harmed, but the Pentagon is known for hiding civilian casualties in Somalia, and there’s very little media coverage of its operations in the country.
The attack marked the second known US airstrike in Somalia this month. The last one occurred on April 1 and also targeted ISIS in Puntland. In that strike, AFRICOM claimed “multiple enemy combatants were killed.”
In both cases, AFRICOM said the strike was launched in coordination with the US-backed Mogadishu-based federal government, but Puntland is not under the federal government’s control.
Last year, Puntland, which has acted as a semi-autonomous state, announced it was withdrawing from the federal system. Local Puntland forces have been fighting against ISIS forces on the ground and have been receiving air support from the US.
The Trump administration has also launched strikes against al-Shabaab, which has been engaged in an offensive against federal government forces in the south. The New York Times recently reported that the Trump administration is divided on how to handle the al-Shabaab offensive, with some officials urging the US to escalate and ramp up its airstrikes.
State Department officials have suggested evacuating the US embassy in Mogadishu over fears that the city could fall to al-Shabaab. The idea would be to pull diplomatic personnel early to avoid an Afghanistan-style withdrawal.
