Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: SOM097)
AFRICOM reported on the same day that it had “conducted an airstrike targeting al-Shabaab militants approximately 30 miles southwest of Mogadishu, Somalia, on May 31”.
It added: “We currently assess no civilians were injured or killed in this airstrike.” However, AFRICOM claimed that the airstrike killed “twelve (12) terrorists”.
In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM confirmed it had struck on this date what it says were “al-Shabaab Fighters”, in the vicinity of Merka District, Somalia.
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention that the strike took place in the area 30 miles southwest of Mogadishu, for which the generic coordinates are: 1.834123, 44.945021. A subsequent FOIA pointed to the vicinity of Marka district as a location. The area 30 miles southwest of Mogadishu is indeed located in Marka district (for which the generic coordinates are: 1.755033, 44.744791). Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.