Mabkhout Ali al Ameri with his 18-month old son Mohammed, shortly after a botched US raid on al Ghayil in January 2017 had killed at least 20 villagers, including Mohammed's mother Fatim Saleh Mohsen. © Iona Craig
Multiple sources suggested that US airstrikes targeted alleged AQAP militants in al-Ghail village and in the broader Yakla area of Qaifa, Bayda governorate, overnight from March 2nd to March 3rd, killing at least three alleged militants. Some sources reported that there was an unspecified number of civilian casualties. Local sources reported that the overnight strikes
Both US Africa Command and the Somali government declared on the same day two airstrikes in the vicinity of Kunya Barrow. There were no known local claims of associated civilian harm. According to the AFRICOM press release, “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted two (2) airstrikes targeting al-Shabaab terrorists
On June 20th 2017, US Central Command announced that US forces had carried out an airstrike that had targeted and killed three AQAP militants in Shabwa governorate on June 16th 2017. This confirmed earlier reports that a US drone strike killed three alleged militants driving in Al Naqba, in the Habban district of Shabwa governorate,
At least five alleged AQAP militants were killed in the course of at least four reported US drone strikes in Qayfa, Bayda governorate, on the evening of January 12th 2018. According to local-language news sources, at least one strike targeted the area of Dhi Kalib village. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.
At least one US drone strike reportedly targeted a convoy of alleged AQAP militants near the town of Al Qawz, in the Mudiyah district of Abyan governorate, late on August 26th 2019. There was no known available information on casualties, and no known associated reports of civilian harm. A local source told Al-Masdar Online that
Two local-language Twitter sources reported that US drone strikes targeted “terrorist groups” in “Al-Ahmar camps” in the Azan and Al Houta area, Shabwa governorate. No other known sources alleged US strikes, and no information was available on casualties. There were no known reports of civilian harm. Since the first known report of this event, from
Two US airstrikes reportedly killed between eight and ten Al Shabaab fighters near Jilib. Garowe reported: “Amid plans to withdraw from Somalia, the US Africa Command conducted two airstrikes on Thursday in the Horn of Africa nation, killing at least eight Al-Shabaab commanders linked to the manufacturing of explosives besides coordinating attacks in the country.”
An AFRICOM declared US airstrike in coordination with Somali Army commandos resulted in the death of up to five Al-Shabab fighters near Labi-Kus village on July 17, 2022. Somali National News Agency (SONNA), a Somali government-run news agency, tweeted that “three #Alshabab terrorists were killed and one was captured after Somali National Army’s commandos (#DANAB) attacked
43 al-Shabaab militants were killed by alleged US airstrikes near Jamaane District in Lower Jubba on June 16, 2023. Garowe Online reported that airstrike carried out by the US struck a location where al-Shabaab militants were holding a meeting in Jamaane District in Lower Jubba, killing “several” militants. @SONNALIVE specified that the airstrikes occurred around
On the 25th of January, 2024, an alleged Somali or US drone or air strike was conducted against the Al-Shabaab militant group in the town of Gal Hereri, in the Galgaduud region of Central Somalia, killing at least 20 militants, according to Somali regional and military officials. One woman, Maido Yusuf Abdulle, was reported to
At 12:45am on May 17th 2012, an alleged unmanned US drone struck a convoy of two cars along the highway from Sayoun to Shibam alongside a lake opposite the radio station of the Thabit / Shibam area, killing two to three alleged Al Qaeda militants and killing one civilian, Moteei Mohsin Bel-Ala. Locals had sighted
An alleged US drone strike killed two to four people, including one civilian (child) and two to three Al Qaeda militants from the AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) branch, and injured one to three other militants in Beit Al Ahmar in the town of Sanhan in the Sana’a Governorate on the November 7th, 2012
Two alleged AQAP militants were reportedly killed by a US drone strike in Al Kawlah, in the Wadi Obeida area of Marib governorate, on the evening of December 19th 2017, according to several sources. On January 10th 2018, a US Central Command statement confirmed that a strike took place in Marib on December 19th, killing
On July 28th 2012 alleged Yemeni or US fighter jets bombed two suspected Al Qaeda hideouts in the Mahfad district of the Abyan Province with an unknown number of casualties as reported by Xinhua news who got their information from a local security official and a local resident. The security official quoted by Xinhua news
The US reported in a press release published on September 27th that it had conducted a “self-defence strike” in Caba near Kismayo the previous day, killing four al Shabaab fighters . The press release said that a group of armed al Shabaab fighters attacked the Somali force and their US advisors. The Somali forces returned
An airstrike near the village of Jawaari was variously blamed on US and Kenyan forces. Mareeg, a Somali news outlet, reported a strike by unidentified jets which it said had potentially killed eight members of al Shabaab. The terror group itself reportedly denied that any of its fighters were killed. The source of Mareeg’s information
Up to 73 al Shabaab fighters were killed in a confirmed retaliatory strike conducted by US Africa Command. On the same day as the attack, AFRICOM reported that it had “conducted an airstrike targeting militants near Jilib, Middle Juba Region, Somalia, on January 19, 2019.” The airstrike was apparently conducted after a large contingent of
The US military carried out an airstrike targeting an ISIS-Somalia encampment in the Golis Mountains, according to a press release from AFRICOM. The strike killed 13 fighters from ISIS-Somalia, in what was the third recent declared strike against ISIS. AFRICOM said it currently assessed that no civilians were harmed. The statement further noted: “We are supporting
A US airstrike targeted an al Shabaab training camp in Tortoorow, Lower Shabelle according to local media. While not declared by AFRICOM at the time, the US later admitted the event in a May 2019 FOIA response. According to Garowe Online, “The attack took place in Toratorow, a main al Shabaab stronghold town in the
Multiple sources alleged that four al-Qaeda militants were killed in a US drone strike in al-Saeed, Shabwa province. Al Arabi for example reported that a car was targeted in Shabwa at dawn on March 2nd 2017, as it was travelling “towards the road linking the towns of Ahur and Shakra”. There were no known reports
The US military reported on the same day that it had carried out an airstrike near Qunyo Barrow that killed one “terrorist.” However al Shabaab insisted the victim was a local civilian businessman named Ismail Issa Bhutan. AFRICOM later insisted the target “was both an al-Shabaab leader and weapons supplier.” According to a press release
The Pentagon announced on March 6th 2017 that it had conducted an airstrike against AQAP in Yemen on February 28th, though no other sources could be found to verify this. This appeared to have been the first action of a serious intensification of US strikes in Yemen through the first week of March 2017. Two
Several social media sources reported that US airstrikes targeted alleged AQAP sites in Wadi Yashbum, Saeed district of Shabwa, overnight from March 4th to March 5th. There were no known reports of civilian harm. One Twitter source, writing at 2am, suggested that eight airstrikes took place in the area. The Yashbum Valley area was subject
US drone and naval strikes reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants in Wadi Al Sanif, in the Al Maraqisha area of Abyan governorate, late on April 5th 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm. Several sources, including AFP, reported that a US drone strike killed a local AQAP leader, Ahmed Ali Saana, while
US airstrikes reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants travelling in Yakla, east of the Qifah area of Bayda governorate, early on the morning of August 19th 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm. Several sources suggested that US helicopters and warplanes, reportedly including drones and “vertical fighters” [possibly USMC Harriers], targeted four suspected
Pro-AQAP feeds reported on April 18th 2018 that Abu Nasir al-Baydani and other “brothers” [Al Qaeda fighters] were killed by a US drone strike in Sama’a, in Bayda governorate, according to Dr Elisabeth Kendall, an academic. No other known sources reported a strike, and it was unclear when the event took place. CENTCOM later informed
A US drone strike reportedly targeted a house in Joe Al Naseem, in the Wadi Obeida area of Marib governorate, at 11am on January 25th 2020, killing at least one alleged AQAP leadership figure. Some sources later indicated that AQAP leader Qasim al-Raymi died in the strike, one of three alleged January US actions in
According to some local language social-media sources, a US drone strike targeted the home of Shabwa Governor Mohammed Salih Bin Adiyu in Ataq city, Shabwa, late on July 3rd 2020. Most sources, however, including local news outlets, instead reported that a fire had broken out in the building, leading to the explosion of a weapons
At least one person, believed to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, was reported killed in an alleged US drone strike on a motorcycle in the Al Batha area, Marib governorate, on December 14th, 2020, according to local sources. Al Arabiya reported that according to a source within the local authority in Marib, “an unmanned drone,
The brief recapture by al Shabaab of the strategic town of Amara on the morning of August 24th was reversed by Somali ground forces, assisted by a US airstrike. Up to 90 militants and five government soldiers were killed in the strike, according to the Somali government and state media. Amara had been held by