On November 17th 2017, US Africa Command sent the Bureau of Investigative Journalism a list of previously unreported strikes, which included this one.

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 proactively release information about all of its strikes. It was limited to confirming or denying US operations took place when asked directly for those strikes that were not cleared to be reported in press releases.

The spokesperson would not say specifically where the attacks hit, telling the Bureau that the best they could say was all the unreported strikes were conducted in southern Somalia, “for operational security reasons”.

However in a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM said it had struck what it says were al Shabaab fighters, in the vicinity of Mubaraak.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

On November 17th 2017, US Africa Command sent the Bureau of Investigative Journalism a list of previously unreported strikes, which included this one.

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 proactively release information about all of its strikes. It was limited to confirming or denying US operations took place when asked directly for those strikes that were not cleared to be reported in press releases.

The spokesperson would not say specifically where the attacks hit, telling the Bureau the best they could say was all the unreported strikes were conducted in southern Somalia, “for operational security reasons”.

However in a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM said it had struck what it says were al Shabaab fighters, in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow.

No additional details are presently known about this event.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The US carried out an air strike on September 13th, killing six al Shabaab members, according to a press release from US Africa Command.

The strike took place at approximately 0215 local time (1115 GMT), hitting an area in southern Somalia about 260km south of the capital, AFRICOM said.

The original press release said three strikes took place. However, a spokesperson told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that AFRICOM had later changed how it classified airstrikes in October and that the three attacks carried out in this operation were now seen as constituting a single strike operation.

Military Times noted that “U.S. officials overseeing the U.S. mission in Africa would not describe the air assets involved in these strikes. ‘We have a range of capabilities at various locations in the region that will allow us to carry out these airstrikes, including manned and unmanned platforms,’ said Robyn Mack, a spokesperson for AFRICOM.”

The attack was carried out under the parameters of authorities granted by President Trump in March. This gave US commanders greater freedom to launch strikes and raids in a geographically-defined area for at least 180 days.

In a Freedom of Information response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM placed the date of this action on September 12th – and said that it had targeted al Shabaab fighters in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow.

The incident occured at approximately 2:15 am local time.

AFRICOM reported that the previous day it had conducted “a precision airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabaab on Thurs., Sept. 7 at approximately 2:45 p.m. local Somalia time”.

The release made no mention of civilian harm. However, AFRICOM asserted that the strike had killed “one (1) terrorist”.

The strike was carried out under authorities passed in March declaring certain parts of Somalia areas of “active hostilities”. This gave US commanders greater freedom to carry out strikes and raids without going through the White House bureaucracy.

This was the second strike to have taken place in the vicinity of Barawe, a port town, in a week. A US Africa Command spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, told Associated Press that he did not have the identity of the al Shabaab member killed.

According to VOA the attack happened near Barawe: “Somali officials say there were two people in the car that was hit in the strike late Thursday. The statement from AFRICOM says one “terrorist” was killed. The mayor of Barawe, Aden Omar Madobe, told VOA Somali it’s not clear who was targeted.”

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM again confirmed it had struck what it says were al Shabaab fighters, in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow.

The incident occured at approximately 2:45 pm local time.

On September 5th 2017, AFRICOM reported that it had conducted a precision airstrike in “central Somalia” against al-Shabaab militants that same day at approximately 9:50am local Somalia time. The release made no mention of civilian harm.

However, AFRICOM asserted that the strike had killed “three (3) terrorists”.

The action, it said, had hit in the Bay region of Somalia, about 75 kilometers west of the capital. It was carried out in support of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali National Army (SNA) forces operating in the area.

AP also reported the following: “‘We assess no civilians were anywhere near the site,” a spokesman for the U.S. Africa Command, Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, told The Associated Press. He said he did not have the identities of the extremists killed. The al-Shabab members were operating ‘in close proximity to’ Somali army forces and African Union forces in the area ‘and were deemed as a credible threat,’ Falvo said.”

VOA placed the strike “near the village of Dodale in the Bay region, on an unspecified target.”

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM said it had struck what it says was “an al-Shabaab Technical Vehicle”, in the vicinity of Tortoroow.

The incident occured at approximately 9:50 am local time.