Over 100 Militants Killed in Somalia Since Start of Trump’s Second Term, Says White House

WASHINGTON - At least 100 terrorists, both leaning to the al-Shabaab and ISIS, have been killed in Somalia since President Donald Trump assumed his second term early this year, the White House said, with the number expected to increase in the coming months..

On Monday, at least 10 militants were killed in Cal-Miskaad mountains in Puntland, with the White House posting a video of the battlegrounds within the mountains, which have been a base of the ISIS militants, but whose influence is declining.

"We haven’t forgotten the threat posed by Jihadis. 10 more were permanently removed from the battlefield in Somalia yesterday," the White House said. "That brings the total to over 100 bloodthirsty terrorists killed since President Trump was sworn in."

The US Africa Command has increased its tempo in Somalia, with the airstrikes targeting strategic locations, destroying the militants' military installations and other assets dangerous for peace and stability in the region.

In February, President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in Cal-Miskaad, where a senior commander of the ISIS militants was killed. Since then, Puntland forces and US Africa Command have made progress, liberating several areas in the process.

Trump said the hit, less than two weeks into his term, had targeted a senior IS attack planner and other militants in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland and had "destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians".

He boasted that he had succeeded where former US President Joe Biden had failed."Biden and his cronies wouldn't act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!" The president maintained that "We will find you and we will kill you".

But airstrikes are different from troops on the ground, and Trump did not stop aerial bombardments in his first term. He increased them to nearly 400. The initial number of service members was 600 before it was reduced during Trump's first administration.

GAROWE ONLINE