The US has launched another airstrike in Somalia, according to a press release from US Africa Command, as US media continues to ignore the bombing campaign.
AFRICOM said in a release on Friday that its forces launched an airstrike against al-Shabaab on April 30, about 30 miles northeast of Kismayo, putting the attack in Lower Juba, Somalia’s southernmost region. As usual, AFRICOM offered no other details about the strike.
The US-backed Somali military didn’t issue any statements about its operations that day, but the Somali Defense Ministry said on April 29 that over the previous 72 hours it had conducted operations against al-Shabaab in the Lower Shabbelle region, north of Lower Juba. The ministry said the operations were backed by “international partners” and claimed that 22 al-Shabaab fighters were killed.
The April 30 US airstrike marks at least the 61st time the US bombed Somalia this year, according to AFRICOM’s numbers. The US has also been bombing an ISIS affiliate based in caves in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region, where the US backs the local government.
The Trump administration is well on track to break the record for annual bombings that President Trump set in 2025, when at least 124 airstrikes were launched, according to AFRICOM numbers.
President Trump has overseen a major escalation of the US air war in Somalia, which began after he loosened the rules of engagement by lifting restrictions on US drone strikes and raids carried out outside of officially declared combat zones. 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.
