US President Donald Trump has said US forces carried out airstrikes in Somalia and killed many members of the Islamic State militant group, which is also known as ISIS.

In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said he ordered precision airstrikes that morning on a senior ISIS attack planner and the terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia.

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

He criticized his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Trump claimed that the US military has targeted the attack planner for years, but that "Biden and his cronies wouldn't act quickly enough."

Trump went on to say, "The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that 'We will find you, and we will kill you!'"

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement that US forces conducted the airstrikes in coordination with the Somalian government in a mountain region in the north of the country. Hegseth stressed that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists "even as we conduct robust border-protection and many other operations under President Trump's leadership."