MOGADISHU: The United Arab Emirates has conducted its first drone strike in northern Somalia in almost a year, targeting Al-Shabaab insurgents, security officials told AFP on Wednesday.
Somalia has been battling the Islamist Al-Shabaab insurgency for two decades, but the militants still control vast swathes of the country.
The group has maintained a base in the Al-Madow mountains of the northern Puntland region for years, although its numbers there are far smaller than in south-central Somalia.
Tuesday’s drone strike in the Galgala mountain pass was the first reported Emirati attack since November 2025.
The UAE is one of several foreign nations involved in the fight against Al-Shabaab, despite having fallen out with the central government in Mogadishu over its support for regional opposition parties, particularly in the breakaway region of Somaliland.
UAE drones conducted reconnaissance missions on Monday and Tuesday after an Al-Shabaab explosive device targeted Puntland’s military, two local officials told AFP.
The drones, launched from Bosaso airport, where the UAE has a military base, targeted four Al-Shabaab militants who were planting roadside bombs, the officials said, leaving two wounded.
Local paramilitaries then moved in and killed the two insurgents.
Puntland is expected to announce a fresh offensive against Al-Shabaab in the coming days, the officials added.
The federal government has not commented on the strike, which comes amid heightened political tensions as some regions reject plans for national elections scheduled for next year.
There are also questions over the future of the international coalition fighting Al-Shabaab after the United States announced that it would end funding for a vital United Nations logistics operation at the end of this year.