The US has launched at least two more airstrikes in Somalia as the escalated US bombing campaign continues to receive virtually no media coverage in the US.
According to a press release from US Africa Command, its forces launched “airstrikes” against the ISIS affiliate in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region on April 25 and April 26. No other details were released about the attack, and there’s been no statement from US-backed Puntland forces about operations on those days.
AFRICOM didn’t specify how many airstrikes it launched, but counting it as two brings the total number of US airstrikes in Somalia this year to at least 60, putting it 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.
Besides bombing the ISIS affiliate in Puntland, which is based in caves in a remote mountain region, the US has also been supporting the Mogadishu-based Federal Government in its war against al-Shabaab. The US has been fighting against al-Shabaab since it first emerged following the 2006 US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. The ISIS affiliate was created in 2015 and started as an offshoot of al-Shabaab.
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.
