AFRICOM 57th Airstrike of 2026: Al-Shabaab Targeted ~90km SW of Kismayo Near Wadajir (Jubbaland)

US Africa Command (AFRICOM) conducted its 57th airstrike in Somalia in 2026 on April 21, targeting Al-Shabaab fighters approximately 90 kilometers southwest of Kismayo (Jubbaland) in the vicinity of Wadajir, announced via AFRICOM Press Release #36382 on April 22. The strike was conducted in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia. The April 21 strike follows the 56th Somalia airstrike of 2026 on April 17 (ISIS-Somalia, SE of Bosaso) and the 54 Al-Shabaab fighters killed in the April 15–16 Jubbaland airstrike campaign. At 57 confirmed strikes in the first 3.5 months of 2026, the pace is tracking to over 200 annual strikes — more than triple the previous record of 63 total strikes in all of 2019. The intensification reflects the expanded strike authority granted to AFRICOM commanders by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth under the Trump administration's expanded counterterrorism posture in Africa. The Wadajir-area target is in southern Jubbaland near the Kenyan border, an Al-Shabaab operational zone used for cross-border infiltration into Kenya and staging attacks on the Kismayo–Baidoa corridor. The timing — two days after Al-Shabaab's seizure of Adan Yabal — reflects the broad geographic scope of US counterterrorism operations, which continued simultaneously with the insurgency's Hiiraan Region offensive.