US Africa Command has announced that its forces launched two more airstrikes in Somalia, bringing the total number of US bombings in the country this year to 77 as the Trump administration continues the heavy air campaign, which gains virtually no media coverage in the US.
One of the airstrikes AFRICOM announced was launched on September 10 in Somalia’s northeast Puntland region, where the US is backing local forces against an ISIS affiliate. The command offered no details about the strike, as it has stopped sharing casualty estimates and assessments on civilian harm.
US-backed forces in Puntland said in a post on September 11 that they conducted a “clearance operation” against fleeing “ISIS terrorists” and seized medical supplies that were kept in the hideouts in the remote Miskat Mountains. “One by one, the hideouts are being cleared —many terrorists killed, others still being pursued,” Puntland Counter-Terrorism Operations wrote on X.
The other strike AFRICOM announced targeted al-Shabaab in the vicinity of Ceel Dheer in the Galguduud region of central Somalia on September 12. The command again did not share any details about the strike. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” AFRICOM said.
The US-backed Somali government, which is based in Mogadishu, said that its forces repelled a major attack on Ceel Dheer on September 12 that was launched by al-Shabaab. The Defense Ministry claimed that more than 70 al-Shabaab militants were killed. It’s unclear how many were killed by the US airstrike.
According to Garowe Online, a Somali media outlet based in Puntland, at least seven Somali soldiers were killed in the battle. The Garowe report said that the battle came after government forces lost several strategic towns to al-Shabaab, and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has come under growing criticism from opposition figures, who say he is more focused on electoral disputes than the war.
The US has doubled down on backing the Federal Government, which controls little territory within Somalia’s internationally recognized borders, by escalating its air campaign against al-Shabaab. The Trump administration has shattered the previous record for annual US airstrikes in Somalia, which President Trump set at 63 in 2019 during his first term.
