US conducts airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia

The U.S. military has conducted coordinated airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government.

An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that “multiple” operatives were killed. The Pentagon said is assesses no civilians were harmed in the strikes.

Trump, in a post on social media, said a senior IS planner and recruits were targeted in the operation.

“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, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!” Trump said. “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!’”

Trump did not identify the IS planner or say whether that person was killed in the strike. White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. military officials have warned that IS cells have received increasing direction from the group’s leadership that relocated to northern Somalia. That has included how to kidnap Westerners for ransom, how to learn better military tactics, how to hide from drones and how to building their own small quadcopters.

A U.S. military airstrike in Somalia last May targeted IS militants and killed three, according to U.S. Africa Command.

The number of IS militants in the country are estimated to be in the hundreds, mostly scattered in the Cal Miskaat mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, according to the International Crisis Group.

Tara Copp is a Pentagon correspondent for the Associated Press. She was previously Pentagon bureau chief for Sightline Media Group.

美国军方对索马里境内的伊斯兰国武装分子进行了协调空袭，这是唐纳德·特朗普总统第二任期内首次在索马里发动袭击。

美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯周六表示，美国非洲司令部的这次空袭是由特朗普指示并与索马里政府协调进行的。

五角大楼的初步评估显示，有“多名”特工丧生。五角大楼表示，经评估，空袭中没有平民伤亡。

特朗普在社交媒体上发帖称，此次行动的目标是“伊斯兰国”的一名高级策划者和一些新招募人员。

“空袭摧毁了他们藏身的洞穴，击毙了许多恐怖分子，而且没有对平民造成任何伤害。多年来，我们的军方一直以这名ISIS袭击策划者为目标，但拜登和他的亲信行动不够迅速，没能完成任务。而我做到了！”特朗普说道。“我要向ISIS以及所有企图袭击美国人的人发出警告：‘我们会找到你们，我们会杀了你们！’”

特朗普没有透露“伊斯兰国”策划者的身份，也没有说明此人是否在空袭中丧生。白宫官员尚未对此事作出回应。

美国军方官员警告称，伊斯兰国（IS）各小组越来越多地受到已迁至索马里北部的该组织领导层的指示。这些指示包括如何绑架西方人索要赎金、如何学习更有效的军事战术、如何躲避无人机以及如何制造自己的小型四轴飞行器。

据美国非洲司令部称，去年5月美军在索马里的一次空袭目标是“伊斯兰国”武装分子，造成三人死亡。

据国际危机组织估计，该国境内的伊斯兰国武装分子人数约为数百人，他们大多分散在邦特兰巴里地区的卡尔米斯卡特山脉。

塔拉·科普是美联社驻五角大楼记者。她此前曾担任Sightline媒体集团驻五角大楼分社社长。