(WASHINGTON) — The United States used manned fighter jets to conduct an airstrike against Islamic State targets in Somalia on Saturday, three U.S. officials told ABC News on Saturday.
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the airstrike, claiming no civilians were harmed in the attack. No details were released about the targets aside from the president labeling the target as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner.”
Hegseth said the airstrikes were carried out “at President Trump’s direction and in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.”
Notably, the strikes were not drone strikes but were carried out by fighter aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which is currently in the Red Sea, as well as Air Force fighter aircraft, U.S. officials told ABC News.
And unlike other airstrikes, these attacks were offensive airstrikes against ISIS, not the defensive drones strikes, such as what U.S. forces have done against al Shabaab when they’re called in to support Somali troops who are being attacked by the militant group.
“This action further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians and sends a clear signal that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies, even as we conduct robust border-protection and many other operations under President Trump’s leadership,” Hegseth added.
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