At least 17 militants were killed by US AFRICOM declared airstrikes approximately 285 kilometers northeast, possibly in Basra, Balad district and/or in Ceel Gorof (Galmudug) on November 9, 2022.
AFRICOM released a statement two days after the incident, November 11th, that “Somali National Army forces were engaged with al Shabaab fighters in a remote area approximately 285 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu on Nov. 9. At the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted a collective self-defense strike against the al-Shabaab terrorists who were attacking the Somali forces. Working with the Somali National Army, U.S. Africa Command’s initial assessment is that the strike killed 17 attacking al Shabaab terrorists and that no civilians were injured or killed.”
Unlike recent statements, AFRICOM does not provide a specific location name for the incident. @Vatescorp tweeted that although AFRICOM did not confirm the location, there were reports that airstrikes were conducted on November 9th and 10th IVO Wabxo, Galgaduud. Geolocation narrowed the referenced location from AFRICOM to the vicinity of Ceel Gorof (the Gorof well) and Wabxo village, which are very close to each other and approx 285 km northeast of Mogadishu.
A tweet from @BCFinucane pointed out that in a later part of the statement, AFRICOM refers to al-Shabaab as being capable of attacking “Somali, East African, and American civilians”, yet “if the reference to the threat from Al Shabaab to US civilians is an allusion to the 2020 attack on Manda Bay, that seems like a stretch”.
The National News Media added that the strike came a few days after al-Shabaab killed five soldiers in Mogadishu and a little over a week after al-Shabaab was responsible for a mass casualty car bombing.
On the same day as the strike, National News Media reported that the Somali army released a statement that they had killed at least 20 militants and took back al-Shabaab controlled towns in central Somalia. A tweet from @ArlaadiMnetwork Abdikamil Moalim Shukri, spokesman for the ministry of internal security, who they said announced that at least 47 al-Shabaab militants were killed by an operation carried out by NISA (the National Intelligence and Security Agency) and international friends in Basra, Balad district. @HarunMaruf added that the government also announced that in addition to the 47 militants killed in Basra, 50 militants were killed in Ceel Gorof (Galmudug).
The local time of the incident is unknown.