The US military’s Africa Command confirmed in its statement that the strikes occurred in northeastern Somalia. Six missiles hit an Isil base in Buqa village and killed “several terrorists”, Voice of America reported.
The US Air Force stroke Islamic State in Somalia for the first time, according to Jama Mohamed Qurshe who cited the chairman of the town of Qandala, Puntland:
“Local residents and pastoralists were shocked and fled from the area,”
Lieutenant Commander Anthony Falvo, the AFRICOM spokesman, confirmed that the US Air Forces struck their intended targets, so, no civilians were in the vicinity of the strikes. he added these were the first anti-Isil air strikes in Somalia. The first strike registered at 0300 GMT, the second at 1400 GMT.
The anti-terroristic operation was developed by the US during several months, the US Air Force has repeatedly hit Somali jihadists reportedly linked to Al-Qaeda. The Friday’s operations marked a significant step in the ever-evolving war against ISIS in this African region.
“US forces will continue to use all authorised and appropriate measures to protect Americans and to disable terrorist threats,”
stressed the AFRICOM spokesman on Friday, the same day President Trump told reporters the US military would significantly ramp up military operations against the terrorist group following an attack in New York earlier this week by a man claiming allegiance to ISIS. Those activities under aegis ‘Allahu Akbar’ is anti-human and extremely cruel practice.
No more ISIS in Africa
In May, ISIS claimed its first suicide attack in Somali, that atrocity act killed at least five people as it stepped up activities in a region dominated by the Shabaab. The former cleric Abdiqadir Mumin is a leader of the jihadists who switched allegiance from Al-Qaeda to Isil in October 2015 and was named a “global terrorist” by the US State Department in August.
Mumin was born in Puntland and lived in Sweden before moving to the UK in the mid-2000s, where he was granted British citizenship.
