Incident Code
Incident Code
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
Six alleged al-Shabaab members were killed by declared US airstrikes on the small town of Awdal 248 km northeast of Mogadishu near Cadale, Middle Shabelle, on December 23, 2022.
AFRICOM released a statement the same day that “At the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted a self-defense strike, Dec. 23, in support of Somali National Army engagements against al-Shabaab 248 km northeast of Mogadishu near Cadale, Somalia. The command’s initial assessment is the strike killed six al-Shabaab terrorists and that no civilians were injured or killed.”
Globe Echo News reported on the day before the strike, December 22nd, that the Middle Shabelle region had been completely liberated from al-Shabaab.
No other independent details were available from foreign or local media.
This incident was the third strike carried out and announced by AFRICOM in 10 days, and all of them occurred in the same area near Cadale.
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Awdal allegedly in the vicinity of the town of Cadale. The generic coordinates for Cadale are: 2.762617, 46.321699. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.