A U.S. airstrike killed three Islamic State group fighters in Somalia on May 31, 2024, U.S. Africa Command said in a statement released June 1. (U.S. Africa Command)

STUTTGART, Germany — A recent U.S. airstrike killed three Islamic State group fighters in Somalia, the first such publicly announced attack against the militant group in the country in four years.

The strike on Friday was carried out in coordination with the government of Somalia and happened in a remote part of the country’s northeast, the Stuttgart-based U.S. Africa Command said in a statement Saturday.

ISIS Somalia is an offshoot of the group’s main branch, which continues to operate in Iraq and Syria. The organization has maintained a small but persistent presence in Somalia over the years.

In 2019, AFRICOM assessed that there were about 300 ISIS militants in Somalia. U.S. strikes against ISIS militants in the country have been relatively rare, with a flurry of them taking place in 2019. The most recent strike came in 2020, according to AFRICOM strike reports.

AFRICOM’s statement did not say whether Friday’s strike was an indication of stepped-up ISIS-Somalia activity. AFRICOM forces will “continue training, advising, and equipping partner forces to degrade ISIS,” it said.

The militant group al-Shabab, with an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 fighters, remains the major terrorist force in Somalia and the primary focus of the U.S. military and its airstrike campaign in the country.

AFRICOM’s most recent strike against al-Shabab was in March.