(Previous Incident Code: SOM062)

AFRICOM reported that the previous day it had conducted “a precision airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabaab on Thurs., Sept. 7 at approximately 2:45 p.m. local Somalia time”.

The release made no mention of civilian harm. However, AFRICOM asserted that the strike had killed “one (1) terrorist”.

The strike was carried out under authorities passed in March declaring certain parts of Somalia areas of “active hostilities”. This gave US commanders greater freedom to carry out strikes and raids without going through the White House bureaucracy.

This was the second strike to have taken place in the vicinity of Barawe, a port town, in a week. A US Africa Command spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, told Associated Press that he did not have the identity of the al Shabaab member killed.

According to VOA the attack happened near Barawe: “Somali officials say there were two people in the car that was hit in the strike late Thursday. The statement from AFRICOM says one “terrorist” was killed. The mayor of Barawe, Aden Omar Madobe, told VOA Somali it’s not clear who was targeted.”

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM again confirmed it had struck what it says were al Shabaab fighters, in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow.