Library image of an armed Reaper drone, December 2019 (US Air Force/ Senior Sergeant Haley Stevens)
A US air strike reportedly killed five people – all of them said to be al Shabaab fighters. The attack was defensive and conducted to protect African troops on the ground, an Africom spokesperson told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The Ugandan soldiers, part of the African Union peacekeeping force Amisom, were attacking a makeshift
Kenyan and Somali forces, and their US advisors, carried out a raid on an al Shabaab checkpoint in Toratorow. The US carried out an airstrike during the operation – though initially denied doing so. Media reports said helicopters were involved, indicating that both US air and ground forces were participating. However a US spokesperson denied
Three 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
The US carried airstrikes in self-defence in Jillib, Middle Juba, as reported by local media. According to one local tweet, the attack took place at night in Jilib. Mogadishu News claimed that eight militants were killed when an al Shabaab police station was struck – noting “civilian houses razed by the strikes.” UPDATE: Drone strikes
This was the second of two strikes confirmed by the Pentagon on April 4th 2016. The attack was a “self-defence air strikes against al Shabaab fighters who posed imminent threats to US and partner nation forces in Somalia,” Department of Defense spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Michelle Baldanza told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Earlier on April 4th,
At least four and up to 23 al Shabaab fighters were reported killed in a US airstrike at Buufow, near Janaaale. However more than three years later, one civilian fatality was also alleged. Two US actions on April 1st and April 2nd were later said to be “self-defence air strikes against al Shabaab fighters who
A US drone strike targeted a vehicle carrying three al Shabaab figures in southern Somalia. The attack hit in the early evening and killed a senior al Shabaab leader, Hassan Ali Dhoore, according to the Pentagon. There were additional reports that two other militants were killed alongside Hassan Ali Dhoore. There are currently no reports
At least 19 alleged militants were killed in a joint operation between US and Somali forces in the village of Awdhegle. US attack helicopters supported US and Somali Special Forces who attacked an al Shabaab target in southern Somalia, the Pentagon and Somali officials said. The assault took place overnight. The soldiers flew on US
US drones and jets reportedly killed between 150 and 200 alleged members of al Shabaab in a strike on a training camp in Somalia, 120 miles north of Mogadishu. There are currently no associated reports of civilian harm. The total killed could in fact be higher. The district governor for Buloburte told the BBC’s Somali
A US drone strike reportedly killed Abu Ubaidah, leader of al Shabaab, as well as four other fighters. The US told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: “We are aware of the media reports but have no information on the incident.” However two named Somali officials asserted that it was a drone attack. Ubaidah replaced Ahmed Abdi
At least three alleged members of al Shahaab were killed in an airstrike against Kunyo-Barow village. The US action killed Abdirahman Sandhere, a senior al Shabaab fighter, the US Defence of Department (DoD) declared, along with two other suspected members of the group. There are currently no reports of civilian harm from this strike. The
Unidentified jets reportedly bombed three villages – Yasooman, Ceeldheer and Ceel Lahelay in the central Hiiraan region – all described as being under al Shabaab control. There were no reported casualties. According to All Africa: “An official says unidentified military jets bombed Al shabaab bases in the Somali region of Hiiraan on Sunday, the latest
A US strike targeted an al Shabaab base in Balad Amin in southern Somalia, killing between five and 10 of the group’s fighters. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported at the time that the US confirmed it carried out an airstrike “at approximately 4pm Eastern Time” – 1am November 22 local time – in defence
A US drone strike allegedly killed “a senior commander and other members” of al Shabaab. Two or three people were reportedly killed by the drones – with an artillery barrage from Kenyan troops followed up the air attack according to the Los Angeles Times, and reportedly killing 50 ‘militants’. This was the first of six
At least five US drone strikes hit in the space of three days killing an undisclosed number of people. They were reportedly carried out in support of African Union troops who were advancing on Baraawe, an al Shabaab stronghold since 2009. The strikes reportedly hit between the attack reported on July 15th and July 18th,
A US Special Forces drone strike allegedly killed Adan Garaar, a senior member of al Shabaab, according to the Pentagon and Somali and Kenyan officials. The attack reportedly destroyed one or two vehicles in southwestern Somalia, killing two other alleged members of the group. There are currently no reports of civilian harm from this strike.
A single news source reported that “unidentified armed drones” targeted two alleged al Shabaab camps. Witnesses said the attacks hit camps in the towns of Torato and Ambereso. The regional governor Abdikadir Mohamed Nur confirmed the strikes but said the death toll had not been confirmed, although the terror group had sustained “human and material
According to a Freedom of Information response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, this previously unknown US strike took place in Dinsoor, Somalia against an “al-Shabaab Named Objective”. It should be noted however that the last known declared US strike in Dinsoor prior to February 2nd 2015 was on January 31st 2015. There
At 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
A mystery airstrike reportedly killed between 40 and 60 alleged belligerents on January 31st 2015. Xinhua also reported that “scores of others were injured” in the attack, leaving it unclear whether those injured were civilians or militants. It was described by some as a US drone strike – thought the Pentagon denied this. Abdulkadir Mohamed
Up to three senior members of al Shabaab were killed by a US military drone in Saakow, Middle Juba, international media reported. There were no known reports of associated civilian harm. The US military said that an airstrike had targeted a “senior leader” of the al Shabaab militant group. Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency later
In this strike in Barawe, Lower Shabelle, up to six al Shabaab militants were killed, including the the group’s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane (aka Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr or Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed), international and local media reported. There were no reports of civilian harm. The strike was the first known US attack in Somalia for some
Between 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
Two civilian children were reported killed and their father severely injured when a US military drone strike attack seemingly directed at nine al Shabaab members struck Hawai, Lower Shabelle, international and local media reported. The strike was said to have targeted and failed to kill Ahmed Abdi Godane. While there initially were no reports of
Five 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
At least two people, both reportedly al-Shabaab affiliated, were killed in a US drone strike on a vehicle in Jilib, Middle Juba region, international media reported. As of now, there are no reports about civilian harm. Senior al Shabaab commander Ibrahim Ali Abdi (aka Anta Anta) was killed in the attack, according to Abu Mohamed,
At least one and as many as seven al Shabaab militants were killed in a naval raid carried out by US forces in Barawe, Lower Shabelle, international media reported. There were no reports of civilian harm. It was not at first clear who was the target of the raid. Reports varied from an unnamed Chechen;
Drones 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
Two 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
French commandos failed to a rescue a French spy held hostage by al Shabaab since 2009. Paris claimed the militants executed the captured secret service agent, known by his alias Denis Allex, during an assault by 50 Special Forces troops. However al Shabaab’s media wing said the hostage survived. Seventeen alleged militants were reportedly killed