Incident date
January 8, 2007
LOCATION
Hayo, Lower Juba, SomaliaAccording to international and local reports, up to 31 civilians, including at least one child, were killed as the town of Hayi or Xayo was subjected to either US or Ethiopian-waged airstrikes. Heavy civilian casualties were reported in airstrikes on Hayi near Afmadow, 250km northwest of Ras Kamboni, and other parts of southern Somalia, in
Summary
Incident date
May 1, 2008
LOCATION
Dusa Marreb, Galguduud, SomaliaAt least five and as many as 30 civilians, including children and one woman, were reportedly killed as US-launched missiles targeted and killed several top al Shabab commanders in Dusa Marreb, a Somali village near the Ethiopian border, local and international sources reported. Around 3am local time on May 1st, 2008, US naval-launched cruise missiles
Summary
Incident date
October 22, 2011
LOCATION
Afmadow, Lower Juba, SomaliaIn this single-source claim, Somalia Report reported that at least 11 civilians died and more than 20 others were wounded after a possible US drone attacked Afmadow town in Lower Juba region. An eye witness, Mohamud Abdirahman, told Somalia Report: “I have seen 11 bodies and we believe that it was a US airstrike.” Locals
Summary
Incident date
August 25, 2017
LOCATION
Bariire, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaThe US military and the Somali government announced they were investigating reports that ten civilians, including three children, were killed during an operation on a farm in Bariire, in Somalia’s southern Lower Shabelle region. However, on November 28th 2017, the US published a press release concluding that only “armed enemy combatants” were killed. Earlier that
Summary
Incident date
September 15, 2011
LOCATION
Kismayo, Lower Juba, SomaliaA single source reported that nine civilians died in alleged US drone strikes on Kismayo. According to the source Antiwar.com, “Eyewitnesses in the southern Somali port city of Kismayo have reported a number of missile strikes, apparently fired by US drones in and around the city. Terrified residents say that several loud explosions were heard
Summary
Incident date
January 23, 2007
LOCATION
Waldena, Lower Juba, SomaliaUp to eight people – some civilians – and one al Qaeda member, were killed as a US drone reportedly targeted, and later captured, a militant leader in Waldena. A fresh JSOC AC-130 strike in Somalia, reportedly operating from an airbase in eastern Ethiopia, targeted Ahmed Madobe, a deputy of ICU leader Hassan Turki. Madobe
Summary
Incident date
June 23, 2014
LOCATION
Kuday, Lower Juba, SomaliaAt least eight civilians were killed and as many as eight were wounded when fighter jets attacked the Somali village of Kudah, 160 kilometres southwest of Kismayo, a woman who had fled the village following the attack told the Kenyan group Journalists for Justice. According to the NGO: “Kudah, June 23, 2014. An elderly woman
Summary
Incident date
January 7, 2007
LOCATION
Ras Kamboni (possibly vicinity of Lag Badana Bushbush National Park), Lower Juba, SomaliaUp to eight civilians were reportedly killed as the US carried out an airstrike against al Qaeda leaders in Ras Kamboni, Lower Juba, international and local sources reported. Shortly after Ethiopian forces had invaded Somalia in late December 2006, the US carried out its first known combat operation within Somalia since the September 11 2001
Summary
Incident date
August 16, 2017
LOCATION
Sheikh Ahmed Yare, 15 miles from Jilib, Middle Juba, SomaliaSeven civilians from the same family including a wife and husband died in US airstrikes which reportedly hit civilian homes near Jilib, according to two reports. The victims are named below. The US announced it carried out a series of attacks between August 16th and 17th, allegedly killing up to seven al Shabaab fighters. However
Summary
Incident date
March 3, 2008
LOCATION
Dhoobley, Lower Juba, SomaliaUp to six civilians were killed and as many as eight wounded as the US fired at least one and as many as three cruise missiles at Dhobley, a town in southern Somalia four miles from the Kenyan border, local and international sources reported. Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman told AFP: “On March 2, the US
Summary
Incident date
January 21, 2012
LOCATION
Kismayo, Lower Juba, SomaliaIn this single-source claim, six people were allegedly killed as an airstrike carried out by US or Kenyan forces, struck near the al Shabaab stronghold of Kismayo, Sheikh Mohamud Abdi, a senior al-Shabaab commander, claimed to Reuters. It is not known whether the strike was by US or Kenyan forces. Kenya sent troops into Somalia
Summary
Incident date
December 6, 2017
LOCATION
130 km southwest of Mogadishu, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaBetween five and seven civilians, including two children, were killed when a vehicle carrying suspected al Shabaab fighters exploded in their village, after being hit by what is thought to have been a US airstrike – though US Africa Command deny any strikes in the area on this date. The explosion reportedly injured a further
Summary
Incident date
November 1, 2013
LOCATION
جيليب, Jilib, Middle Juba, SomaliaFive children from a single family were killed in the town of Jilib, in Somalia’s Middle Juba region, when their house was razed by aerial bombardment from an unknown belligerent (possibly Kenya), according to residents interviewed by the group Journalists for Justice. According to the report, “A third set of strikes took place a few
Summary
Incident date
June 1, 2014
LOCATION
Farigow, 3 km west of Jilib, Middle Juba, SomaliaBetween one and five civilians, including women and children, were killed as the Farigow leper colony near Jilib, Middle Jubba was struck by unknown warplanes, international media reported. A woman living near the settlement told the Kenyan group Journalists for Justice that the colony was struck by jets by “mid 2014”, killing one person and
Summary
Incident date
May 9, 2018
LOCATION
Bulcida Macalinka (northeast), Lower Shabelle, SomaliaFive civilians were reportedly killed in a US and/or Somali-waged ground operation – possibly also involving airpower – in the Lower Shabelle region, local and international media reported. The US denied allegations of harm on several occasions. The raid was reportedly carried out by Somalia commandos, with the US saying American troops supported the mission
Summary
Incident date
October 6, 2011
LOCATION
Dolbiyow, 35 kilometers east of Dhobley, Lower Juba, SomaliaFour Somali farmers were reported to have been killed in a possible drone strike in Dolbiyow Village, 35km east of Dhobley according to Somalia Report, while one was reportedly injured. The farmers and their camels were killed moments after al-Shabaab fighters fled the area in vehicles, witnesses said. However, a TFG official told Somalia Report
Summary
Incident date
January 31, 2015
LOCATION
Diinsoor, Bay, SomaliaAt least four civilian casualties were reported injured or killed in a confirmed US attack on Dinsooor, though it was not clear if they were injured or killed. JSOC had targeted and killed Yusef Dheeqm, al Shabaab’s head of external operations in the drone strike. Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed in two separate Pentagon press conferences
Summary
Incident date
April 1, 2018
LOCATION
Ceel Buur, Mudug, SomaliaUp to four civilians, including one child and one woman, were killed along with up to five al Shabaab fighters as a US airstrike struck El Burr, Galmudug, international media reported. Following a year of denials, US Africa Command admitted in April 2019 that civilians had in fact died in the event – and that
Summary
Incident date
March 18, 2019
LOCATION
Laantabuur or Abdow Dibile, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaUp to four civilians were killed in a US strike in the Lower Shabelle region, international media and investigating NGOs reported from the ground, though US Africa Command claimed that the strike had only killed three “terrorists.” It later again officially denied causing any civilian casualties. Initially, allegations of civilian harm came from a Reuters
Summary
Incident date
June 1, 2013
LOCATION
جيليب, Jilib, Middle Juba, SomaliaDrones and helicopters reportedly attacked outside the town of Jilib, in Somalia’s Middle Juba region, killing three people and seriously wounding seven, according to locals interviewed by the Kenyan group Journalists for Justice. Of the three people killed, two were women and one an elderly man, and of those wounded, three were reportedly children. As
Summary
Incident date
May 29, 2018
LOCATION
Bariire, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaA suspected airstrike in a field outside Bariire, a village 30 miles west of Mogadishu, killed three boys and left one woman injured, according to The National. Journalist Amanda Sperber met Halimo Mohamed Abdi, a herder who was injured in the action: “The blast broke both her hips, left shrapnel embedded in her thigh, and
Summary
Incident date
September 19, 2018
LOCATION
سااكوو, Saakow, Middle Juba, SomaliaAt least three children were killed as up to 12 al Shabaab members were targeted and killed by a night time airstrike, local and international media reported – though it was unclear who was behind the attack. Several senior al Shabaab officials were killed or wounded in an airstrike, Somalia intelligence officials reportedly said. The
Summary
Incident date
November 10, 2017
LOCATION
2km north of Baasra, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaUS forces carried out a strike against al Shabaab at approximately 8pm local Somalia time killing “several” fighters, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said. It was also alleged by local officials that three civilians had died. The strike hit the Lower Shabelle region. A Somali military official told Voice of America the strike, which they said
Summary
Incident date
November 12, 2017
LOCATION
Southeast of Darusalaam, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaA US strike on al Shabaab fighters in the Lower Shabelle region also killed three civilians, Amnesty International later reported. Two US strikes took place in Somalia on November 12th, with one targeting al Shabaab and the other hitting Islamic State fighters, according to US Africa Command. The strikes killed “several fighters”, it said. The
Summary
Incident date
August 2, 2018
LOCATION
Gobanle (Gobaale), Lower Shabelle, SomaliaThree civilians were reportedly killed in a US strike in Gobanle village, according to Amnesty International – though US Africa Command claimed that only four “terrorists” were killed. However an AFRICOM declassified assessment of the event published in July 2019 indicated that the US itself was unaware of the identities of those in the vehicle
Summary
Incident date
March 1, 2013
LOCATION
Kol, near Bula Xawa, Gedo, SomaliaTwo airstrikes by an unknown belligerent hit the nomadic settlement of Kol, near the city of Bulla-Xama, in southwestern Somalia’s Gedo region, killing a mother and her two children and injuring five others, a young man who fled the settlement following the strike told the Kenyan group Journalists for Justice. According to a report, Black
Summary
Incident date
April 11, 2016
LOCATION
1.2 km east of Yontoy, Lower Juba, SomaliaThree civilians were reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Lower Juba. The attack began late on April 11 and continued into the small hour of April 12, Lt Col Michelle Baldanza of AFRICOM later said in a statement. The camp “posed an imminent threat to US personnel,” she said. Somali officials allege the
Summary
Incident date
February 21, 2018
LOCATION
Bangeeni, Lower Juba, SomaliaUp to five people, including two reported civilians, were killed in a US military airstrike that hit in the vicinity of Jamaame, in Somalia’s Lower Juba region, international media reported. According to a US Africa Command press release, a US strike on al Shabaab killed four members of the group. VOA reporter Khadar Hared tweeted that
Summary
Incident date
October 13, 2011
LOCATION
10 km east of Taabta, Lower Juba, SomaliaIn this single-source allegation, civilians were reported as possibly harmed following attacks on an al Shabaab base near Taabta village, Lower Juba, Somalia Report reported. It was not clear who was behind the actions. Somalia Report reported that drones had targeted an al-Shabaab base used to train new fighters. Its source cited TFG military official
Summary
Incident date
October 16, 2017
LOCATION
Farah Waeys, Lower Shabelle, SomaliaA US drone strike near Bariire on October 16th was confirmed by the US military. However, numerous allegations of civilian harm by international media have been denied. Whilst US Africa Command did not initially publish a press release regarding this strike, they confirmed to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at the time that they carried