US Africa Command announced on Thursday that its forces launched a “series” of airstrikes in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region as the Trump administration continues to bomb the country at a record pace.
The command offered no other details about the strikes other than saying they targeted the ISIS affiliate in Puntland and were launched about 37 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bosaso, where US-backed forces have been fighting ISIS members in the remote Caal-Miskaad mountain region.
“Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” AFRICOM said. The command stopped releasing casualty estimates or assessments on civilian harm earlier this year.
It’s unclear how many airstrikes the US launched on November 19, but the language from the AFRICOM press release announcing a “series” of airstrikes suggests more than one. Counting the attack as two airstrikes brings the total number of US bombings in Somalia this year to 99, an unprecedented number. The administration has shattered the previous record for total US airstrikes in Somalia in a single year, which President Trump set at 63 during his previous term in 2019.
The US supports local Puntland forces in the region because the US-backed Federal Government, based in Mogadishu, doesn’t control the region. The Puntland Counter-Terrorism Operations X account announced on Wednesday that the US had conducted an airstrike against “ISIS terrorists” in the Balade Valley, which is in the Caal-Miskaad mountains.
Garowe Online, a media outlet based in Puntland, reported on Thursday that Puntland forces are closing in on what security sources claimed was the “last major stronghold” of ISIS in the area, though Puntland military officials have been claiming for months that it was close to achieving victory against the group.
“The area has been bombed from the air, but the caves are so deep and naturally fortified beneath the mountains that deploying troops without a well-thought-out plan could cost many lives,” the Garowe report said. “One source said that if Puntland forces end ISIS resistance in Baallade, they could be on the verge of a major achievement. The source cautioned, however, that ISIS could still carry out sporadic guerrilla attacks even if its current stronghold is captured.”
Somalia’s ISIS affiliate was created in 2015 as an offshoot of al-Shabaab, a group the US has been fighting against for nearly two decades. Al-Shabaab emerged after the US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006, which led to the ousting of the Islamic Courts Union and the beginning of the current Somali government. Al-Shabaab was the radical offshoot of the ICU and claimed its first attack in 2007, which targeted Ethiopian troops occupying Mogadishu.
The Trump administration has also been launching heavy airstrikes against al-Shabaab in southern Somalia and provided significant air support for an offensive in Somalia’s southern Jubaland region, during battles on November 13, November 14, and November 15. According to local media reports, a suspected US airstrike on the town of Jamame in Jubaland over the weekend killed 12 civilians, including eight children.
