Breaking News: Donald Trump orders airstrike in African country as he tells ISIS ‘we will find you….See More

Donald Trump says “many” Islamic State terrorists have been killed in a US strike on Somalia.

The US military has conducted a series of airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) operatives in Somalia, killing “many”, President Trump said.

The coordinated campaign, which is the first of the new president’s administration, was targeted at a senior IS attack planner and other militants.

It was carried out in the Golis Mountains region of northern Somalia, where the terrorist group IS-Somalia, which broke off from the larger al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab group in 2015, is based.

Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social: “These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies.”

“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.”

Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years,” the president added, “but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!

The president did not name the individuals who had been targeted in the strikes. He ended his social media statement by issuing a “message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans”, that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”

The US has carried out a staggered campaign of air strikes in Somalia for years under both Democratic and Republican administrations. A special forces operation ordered by Joe Biden in 2023 killed a senior ISIS commander and 10 other militants in a similarly remote part of the country’s northern region and a US airstrike last May also killed three IS members.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia wrote on X that he was deeply grateful for “the unwavering support of the United States in our shared fight against terrorism”.

Your bold and decisive leadership, Mr President, in counterterrorism efforts is highly valued and welcomed in Somalia,” he added.

The North African country’s autonomous Puntland government, which was formed in 1998 and also launched a campaign against IS-Somalia following the terror group’s attack on a military base that caused 22 deaths in December.