The US conducted “a self-defence strike against al Shabaab, killing three” in southern Somalia, describing the action as having “provided defensive fires to protect U.S. troops from imminent threats posed by the terrorist group al-Shabaab.”

A statement from US Africa Command (Africom) issued at the time said “the operation was conducted after it was assessed the terrorists were planning and preparing to conduct an imminent attack against US forces.”

Writing about the incident, The Hill noted that “There are about 50 U.S. forces on the ground in Somalia, in support of partner forces fighting al-Shabab militants. The strike comes amid a new assessment by IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre that said over the course of 2015 and 2016, al-Shabab has “been expanding capabilities and increasing the tempo of attacks.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

AFRICOM reported on the same day it had “conducted an airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabaab on Thur., Nov. 9 at approximately 3 p.m. local Somalia time”.

It added that the “operation occurred in the Bay Region of Somalia, about 100 miles west of the capital, Mogadishu”. AFRICOM made no mention of civilian harm. However, it stated that the strike had killed “several militants”.

This and four additional strikes over the following three days killed “more than 40 terrorists,” 35 of them al Shabaab and five with ISIS, a Pentagon spokesperson later told reporters on November 13th. He did not say how many people were killed in which of the five strikes, “for operational reasons,” an AFRICOM spokesperson told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on November 15th.

Associated Press reported the following for the November 9th attack: “A U.S. drone strike killed ‘several militants’ with al-Shabab in Somalia, the military said, as the Trump administration increasingly targets what has become the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa. The strike was carried out Thursday afternoon in the Bay Region, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the capital, Mogadishu, according to a statement by the U.S. Africa Command. A spokeswoman told The Associated Press that no civilians were anywhere near the strike.”

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM confirmed it had struck what it says were al Shabaab fighters on this date, in the vicinity of Buulo Fuulay.

The incident occured at approximately 3:00 pm local time.

On June 4th 2018, AFRICOM reported that it had “conducted an airstrike targeting al-Shabaab militants approximately 26 miles southwest of Bosasso, Somalia, on June 2”.

It added: “We currently assess no civilians were injured or killed in this airstrike.” However, AFRICOM claimed that the airstrike killed “twenty-seven (27) terrorists.”

As Voice of America noted, “Saturday’s airstrike came after al-Shabab extremists attacked a military base in Puntland, claiming to have killed five soldiers, wounding seven and destroying Somali military equipment.”

Garowe Online said the al Shabaab attack had been on a Puntland security force base near Balli Khadar in the Galgala hills – a possible location for the following US strike.

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM  confirmed it had struck what it says were “Al-Shabaab Fighters”, in the vicinity of Puntland, Somalia.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

An airstrike near Jilib killed one al Shabaab fighter, according to US Africa Command. There were no known reports of civilian harm, an official press statement asserted.

“At this time, it is assessed the airstrike killed one (1) terrorist. Strikes near Jilib disrupt al-Shabaab’s freedom of maneuver.  Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike,” the press release read.

Hivsasa later reported that the strike was said to have targeted “an Al-Shabaab operative who has been reportedly on [the] run after being put on black books by KDF and allied forces. Tuesday’s strike aimed at the militant, whose details were not immediately released by the forces, but he’s accused of organising several successful attacks.”

AFRICOM later informed the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that there had been a second strike in the vicinity of Jilib on this date, which is listed as a separate event.

According to Halgan Media, the strike took place on the road between Jilib town and the port city of Kismaayo.

Taqwa Media reported similar, while also suggesting more details of the strike: “Drone strike against al Shabaab targets has killed a high-value target (HVT), an al Shabaab leader on the road connecting Jilib town and the port city of Kismayu in Somalia. The drone strikes yet to be confirmed hit and neutralized the vehicle of the al Shabaab leader and his bodyguards approximately 1050hrs in southern Somalia.”

The incident occured at approximately 10:50 am local time.