AFRICOM publicly reported the first of four strikes on the same area on the same day – asserting that it had killed eight al Shabaab militants in the vicinity of Gandarshe.

The tweet was issued shortly after noon GMT, indicating that the attack was earlier that morning.

Two days later AFRICOM revealed that it had carried out a total of four strikes that day on Gandarshe which it claimed between them had killed 34 al Shabaab fighters. Another two strikes took place on December 16th, it said – killing another 28 militants.

“All six airstrikes were conducted in close coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia and targeted a known al Shabaab encampment. U.S. Africa Command and our Somali partners conducted these airstrikes to prevent terrorists from using remote areas as a safe haven to plot, direct, inspire, and recruit for future attacks,” a press release on the strikes stated.

AFRICOM assessed that no civilians were harmed during the strikes.

Voice of America revealed additional information about the attacks: “U.S. military airstrikes in Somalia over the weekend destroyed a secret al-Shabab base close to the capital, Mogadishu, and killed at least 62 militants, including 10 middle-ranking commanders, according to Somali officials and intelligence sources. ‘The repeated strikes … targeted the al-Shabab base on a mountain area near Gendershe, where al-Shabab militants have been training new recruits and used to launch attacks against government soldiers and the African Union peacekeepers,’ said Abdifitah Haji Abdulle, deputy governor of the Lower Shabelle region.

“A Somali intelligence official said the militants established the secret base about 53 kilometers south of Mogadishu because of its proximity to the capital and the port town of Marka. U.S. and Somali government forces have targeted other Shabab bases in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region for years, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ‘So, the militants decided to set up a new base … close to the Indian Ocean and Mogadishu to avoid the intelligence radar,’ the official told VOA’s Somali Service. Gendershe is a village on the coastal road linking the Somali capital to Marka.”

Associated press offered a different perspective, indicating preventive measures against an imminent attack: “They were conducted with America’s ‘Somali partners to prevent terrorists from using remote areas as safe havens to plot, direct, inspire and recruit for future attacks,’ Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said, noting that no civilians had been killed or injured. ‘The strike has neutralized an imminent attack’ on a military base in the Lower Shabelle region, a Somali intelligence official told The Associated Press, adding that a camp and vehicles were hit.”

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM  confirmed it had separately targeted with three strikes on this date, what it says was an “al Shabaab encampment”, in the vicinity of Gandarshe, Somalia.

The incident occured in the morning.