Sunday 2, Feb 2025 {HMC} U.S. warplanes took aim at the Islamic State affiliate in Somalia, hitting what officials described as high-ranking operatives in the terror group’s mountainous stronghold.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the precision strike Saturday on social media, describing the main target as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led.”

“These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies,” Trump said. “The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.”

A separate statement from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes targeted an area in Somalia’s Golis mountains, and “further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians.”

Neither Trump nor Hegseth named the IS planner, though U.S. officials said the strikes were carried out in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.

General Adan Abdi Hashi, commander of the Puntland Devish Forces said the airstrikes targeted at least 10 locations of the Islamic State militants in the Cal-Miskaad area, which is part of the Golis mountains.

“The strikes targeted about 10 locations in the Cal-Miskaad areas, most of them caves, and we believe that many of the militants were killed,” said the general.

Residents in Qandala, a small town in Bari region of Puntland told VOA on the condition of anonymity because they feared for their lives, that they could see from the distance plumes of smoke and flames, and that they could hear at least seven huge explosions.

Officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region thanked the U.S. on social media, calling the operation a success.

“The latest airstrike, carried out today, resulted in the elimination of several high-ranking #ISIS members,” according to the statement.

U.S. Africa Command, which oversees U.S, military efforts on the continent, said it, too, assessed multiple terror operatives had been killed.

The Islamic State, also known as IS or Daesh, has increasingly played a key role in the terror group’s operations in Africa and beyond.

Since 2022, Somalia has been home to al-Karrar, one of nine regional Islamic State offices established to help sustain the terror group’s capabilities. As a result, IS-Somalia has become both a key cog in the IS financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa.

IS-Somalia has, at the same time, become more influential under the leadership of Abdulkadir Mumin, a former militant with the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, who is thought to now head IS’ directorate of provinces, overseeing the terror group’s affiliates in Africa.

Some U.S. officials worry Mumin has risen even higher, perhaps acting as the Islamic State’s top emir. Others disagree but there is consensus that Mumin is nonetheless a pivotal figure.

The U.S. previously targeted Mumin in May of last year.

Recent intelligence assessments have further warned IS-Somalia has more than doubled in size over the past year and may now boast up to as many as 1,600 fighters, bolstered by an influx of fighters from Ethiopia, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania and Yemen.

Most of IS-Somalia’s manpower has been concentrated in Puntland, especially in the Golis Mountains, also known as the Cal-Miskaad mountains.

Saturday’s airstrike, the first against IS in Somalia so far this year, was carried out by fighter jets launched from the USS Harry S. Truman, currently in the Red Sea, according to defense officials who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of the operation.

It comes as Somali forces in Puntland continue a military offensive against ISIS militants hiding in Cal-Miskaad mountains. Puntland also thanked the United Arab Emirates which they say provided air support to the ongoing offensive.

The operations, which started in late December, drove militants from vast areas in the northeastern highlands of Somalia.

The militants, many of them foreigners, have claimed carrying out IED attacks against Puntland forces.

The fiercest clashes occurred late last week when the regional forces dislodged the militants from Turmasaale, a strategic location about 150 kilometers southeast of Bosaso.

The Somali government called Saturday’s airstrikes by the U.S. “a critical step in our shared fight against terrorism.”

“The Federal Government of Somalia welcomes the firm and decisive counterterrorism efforts led by the United States,” it said in a statement. “Together, we will continue to dismantle extremist networks … and build a future free from the scourge of terrorism.”

SOURCE VOA

Sunday 2, Feb 2025 {HMC} An attack on an open market in the Sudanese city of Omdurman by a paramilitary group fighting the country’s military killed 54 people and wounded many more, health authorities said Saturday.

The attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the Sabrein Market also wounded at least 158 others, the Health Ministry said in a statement. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the escalated civil war that has wrecked the northeastern African country.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

Khalid al-Aleisir, minister of culture and government spokesperson, condemned the attack, saying that the casualties included many women and children. He also said the attack caused “widespread destruction to private and public properties.”

“This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia,” he said in a statement. “It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate condemned the RSF’s attack. It said one shell hit meters from al-Naw hospital, which received most of the market casualties.

It said most of the bodies taken to the hospital were of women and children, adding that the hospital has a significant shortage of medical teams, especially surgeons and nurses.

The conflict in Sudan started in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the sprawling northeastern African country.

Saturday’s attack was the latest tragedy in the country’s brutal civil war. Last week, about 70 people were killed in a RSF attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in the western region of Darfur.

The conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, has forced millions to flee their homes and has left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.

It has been marked by gross atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the United Nations and rights groups.

The International Criminal Court said it was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. And the Biden administration had accused the RSF and its proxies of committing genocide in the war.

In recent months the RSF has suffered multiple battlefield blows, giving the military the upper hand in the war. It has lost control of many areas in Khartoum, the capital’s sister city of Omdurman, and the eastern and central provinces.

The military also regained control of the city of Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira province, and the country’s largest oil refinery.

SOURCE VOA