US Africa Command on Wednesday announced that its forces launched another airstrike in Somalia on February 16 as the Trump administration continues its record-breaking bombing campaign in the country.
AFRICOM said the strike targeted the ISIS affiliate in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region, about 43 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bosaso, a remote mountain region where the US is backing the local government’s fighters against ISIS militants based in caves.
As usual, AFRICOM provided no additional details about the strike, and there has been no statement from the US-backed Puntland Counterterrorism Operations regarding that day’s operation. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” AFRICOM said.
The US has also been bombing al-Shabaab in southern Somalia, launching two recent strikes against the group on February 14 and February 15.
The US attack marks at least the 35th US airstrike in Somalia this year. AFRICOM launched at least 124 airstrikes in Somalia in 2025, shattering the previous annual record for US airstrikes in the country, which President Trump set at 63 during his first term in 2019.
According to New America, an organization that tracks the air war, the US launched more airstrikes in Somalia in 2025 than were conducted during the administrations of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush combined. Despite the massive escalation, the US air war in Somalia receives virtually no media coverage in the US.
