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
One civilian was reportedly killed and another injured in a confirmed US airstrike in Baladul Rahma near Basra, Somalia according to a field investigation by Amnesty International – though US Africa Command continues to deny that any civilians were harmed. In a press release from AFRICOM issued at the time, it had said it carried
A ground operation struck a minibus carrying civilians, killing one woman and injuring up to six others, local media reported. While one source claimed that the attack was conducted by drone, others said it was a ground operation, involving Somali and possibly also US troops. AFRICOM later denied responsibility for civilian harm on the grounds
Between five and six civilians were injured in alleged US airstrikes or drone strikes on the neighborhood of Ja’ar and possibly other locations in Abyan governorate on June 18, 2011. Marepress reported that American planes attacked civilian areas and focused attacks on Zinjibar and Jaar. Raids were also launched by US drones in Al-Rai neighborhood.
Between eight to 17 Al Qaeda militants were killed and five others were injured in an alleged Yemeni or US air strike in the southeastern province of Abyan on the outskirts of the town of Lawdar, on the 21st of April 2012 in the evening. There have been no reports of civilian harm. Yemen’s Defense
On June 25th, 2012, a declared US drone strike hit two vehicles in the outskirts of Aden in Bir Hamid at dawn. Three alleged AQAP members were killed, while several others were wounded. There are currently no known reports of civilian harm. The identities of those killed were not reported, but a source told the
In an email to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, US Central Command stated that a strike had targeted four “AQAP terrorists” in Marib governorate on April 29th 2017. This confirmed reports that a US drone strike had killed at least two alleged AQAP militants in Al Jayf area, Al Jubah district of Marib governorate, early
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,
On November 17th, US Africa Command sent the Bureau of Investigative Journalism a list of previously unreported strikes, which included this one. No casualties were reported. An AFRICOM spokesperson explained that their goal “is to be as transparent as possible while taking into account operational security, force protection and diplomatic sensitivities.” It therefore did not
The US carried had so far carried out ten strikes since the start of the year, a US Africa Command spokesperson confirmed to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) at the start of April, which had recorded only six publicly reported strikes. The spokesperson provided details on the strikes BIJ had not recorded: “The first
AFRICOM publicly reported that it had “conducted conducted an airstrike targeting al-Shabaab militants in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow, Somalia, on October 25, 2018”. It added: “We also currently assess this airstrike did not injure or kill any civilians.” However, AFRICOM claimed that the airstrike “killed two (2) militants and destroyed one (1) vehicle.” Voice
The US military carried out an airstrike in Somalia on February 25th that killed 20 terrorists, according to a press release from US Africa Command. US Army Brig. Gen. Gregory Hadfield, AFRICOM deputy director of intelligence, said in the released statement: “This precision airstrike successfully targeted an encampment from which al-Shabaab could stage, coordinate, and
The US military conducted an airstrike in self defence following a complex al-Shabaab attack on Baledogle Military Airfield (BMA) complex in Baledogle, US Africa Command reported. The strike and accompanying small arms fire killed 10 alleged terrorists, AFRICOM initially reported – thought this toll was later raised to 15. One US soldier was also injured,
A reported tweet from Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency – apparently since deleted – referred to a joint raid on February 2nd by Somali and US forces which was said to have killed 40 al Shabaab fighters. Goobjoog News, which picked up on the original tweet, said that “The National Intelligence and Security Agency
In its first declared action in Somalia of 2020, AFRICOM announced on the same day that “in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab terrorists who engaged Somali National Army partner forces on patrol near Bacaw.” AFRICOM added that “At this time, it is assessed this precision
Some local language sources suggested that a US drone strike killed at least three alleged AQAP militants travelling in a car in the Al Shuaib area, in the As Saeed directorate of Shabwah governorate. One source indicated that the strike took place in the “suburbs of Azan”. There were no reported civilian casualties. It was
US Navy warships reportedly bombarded alleged AQAP targets in the vicinity of Mojan, al-Maraqisha area of Abyan, overnight from March 29th to March 30th. There were no known reports of civilian casualties. Multiple sources indicated that continuous fire from warships off the Abyan coast targeted various AQAP sites in the mountainous al-Maraqisha area, including Mojan
Multiple local language sources reported that US airstrikes targeted alleged AQAP militants with “phosphorous bombs” near Sahn Al Jin, in Marib governorate, on May 8th 2017. Though most sources assigned responsibility to the US, two social media sources instead asserted that Saudi Arabian forces were responsible, leading Airwars to assess this event as Contested. There
One elderly civilian, claimed by al Shabaab to be a tribal elder, was allegedly killed by a US airstrike in Kamsuuma. The US later pushed back heavily against the claim, insisting the victim was a terrorist. AFRICOM initially described the action – which it said killed one al Shabaab fighter – as a response to
A US airstrike took place in Bayda governorate on March 26th 2019, a US Central Command spokesperson later told New America. In a separate press release, US Central Command stated that all March 2019 strikes targeted AQAP. There were no other known local reports of a strike on that day according to our Arabic-language researchers,
A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants near Al Madara village, in the Mudiyah district of Abyan governorate, late on April 30th 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm. Multiple social-media sources, including @WeenAlEnfigar and @BaFana3, reported that US drones were seen flying in the area at the time, and
A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants’ Vitara vehicle in the ‘Irq Al Shabwan area of Al Wadi district in Marib governorate on 27 October 2020 killing between two and three militants and wounding one, according to local sources. Almawqaea Post noted that a local source had named the militants as being members
Two alleged members of Al Qaeda were killed in US airstrikes in Yemen sometime before August 24, 2021. According to a Facebook post from Mushir Al Mashrai, Al-Qaeda organization in Yemen mourned Rashid Al-Ghazali and his brother Abu Asim, who said that they were killed in an American raid. A tweet from @GhalebM0nz1i7 reported that the
Up to 40 members of al-Shabaab were killed and others were wounded by Somali forces and “international partner” airstrikes or ground operations near the village of Ali Foldhere on November 30, 2022. Shabelle Media Network quoted the Somali government who announced that an operation carried out by the National Army, National Intelligence and Security Agency
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
An unknown number of Al-Shabaab members, including top leaders, were reportedly killed by airstrikes allegedly carried out by the US and/or Somali military on Elbur in Galgaduud province on September 23, 2023. There have been no reports of civilian casualties connected to the strikes. On the 23rd of September, 2023, the Somali Ministry of Defense
On December 2nd, Mohamed Lajnef posted pictures of two injured children on Facebook, saying they had been liberated from ISIS. On December 5th Libya’s Channel reported Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous rescued over a hundred children and women from ISIS, some of the children severely injured. It showed pictures of two children: one is the same depicted in
On September 21 2011, alleged US airstrikes on the town of Shaqra in Yemen’s southern Abyan province killed six to seven alleged AQAP militants. One outlet, AFP, stated that three alleged militants were injured in the strike. There are no reported cases of civilian harm. Aden Online and Long War Journal put the number of
Between three and eight Al Qaeda militants were killed and others were wounded in a reported US drone strike near the village of Hosoon, close to the city of Marib on the 12th of May, 2012. The attack came just 30 minutes after another airstrike (USYEM077-B) in the east of Wadi Harib district, close to
A US Central Command spokesperson told reporters that a strike had killed two alleged ISIS militants in Bayda governorate on November 12th 2017. This confirmed earlier reports that a US drone strike in the Dhi Kalib area of Qayfa had killed two at noon on that date. Two sources suggested that one of those killed
The militant stronghold of Rumeila was targeted by “five US drone strikes,” according to an unnamed Yemeni official based in Jaar. There are currently no known reports of civilian harm. According to AFP: “Meanwhile, Rumeila, north of Jaar, which itself is an Al-Qaeda stronghold, was also targeted Tuesday by ‘five US drone strikes,’ the same