At least 60 and as many as 117 al Shabaab fighters were killed in a US strike on October 12th, it was reported.

The location appears to have been a training camp, according to Voice of America, which noted: “A Somali official says the strike happened near the village of Jowle, about 20 kilometers southwest of Harardhere. The official, who did not want to be named, put the death toll at 117. He says when the attack occurred, the militants were gathered at a camp and were planning to travel to the Hiran and Middle Shabelle regions, where villagers have put up resistance against al-Shabab.”

Citing what appeared to be another Somali official, CBS News said the toll for the terror group exceeded 75.

In an October 16th press release, US Africa Command said the attack was its largest against al Shabaab since November 2017, when US forces had carried out a strike on an al Shabaab camp killing approximately 100 militants.

In an earlier press release issued October 13th, the command said that they were “currently assessing the results of this airstrike, which targeted only al Shabaab militants.” This marked a change from the usual line included in AFRICOM press releases, which tended to state that the command has assessed that no civilians were injured or killed in a strike.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism took this to AFRICOM, which said that, at this time, they had assessed no civilians were injured or killed in the action and stated that they had not been investigating any allegations of civilian casualties. This was reiterated in the second press release:

“This precision airstrike was conducted in support of the Federal Government of Somalia as it continues to degrade al-Shabaab. Airstrikes reduce al-Shabaab’s ability to plot future attacks, disrupt its leadership networks, and degrade its freedom of maneuver within the region.”

Two US defense officials told CNN the strike was carried out by a drone.

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM again confirmed it had struck what it says was an “al Shabaab named objective”, in the vicinity of Harardere, Somalia.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The US military reported on the same day that it had carried out an airstrike against al Shabaab in the vicinity of Saakow that killed one terrorist.

“In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted an airstrike targeting al-Shabaab terrorists in the vicinity of Saakow, Somalia, on Dec. 9,” AFRICOM reported.

“Initial assessment concluded the airstrike killed one (1) terrorist. We currently assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike.”

Associated Press, citing Somali officials, provided more details of what it said was a drone strike: ” Intelligence officials in Somalia say an airstrike conducted by the U.S. military in the country’s south killed a senior extremist of the al-Shabab rebel group. The airstrike on Monday by an unmanned U.S. drone targeted a vehicle outside Sakow, a town in Somalia’s Middle Jubba region, killing the rebel and wounding another, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The strike was conducted in coordination with Somali intelligence which assisted in tracking the slain militant before the U.S. airstrike.”

Goobjoog said that the attack was instead conducted by helicopter. Xaysimo said the attack took place at noon. And citing Somali intelligence officials, Ilwareed said that one militant was injured along with the slain leader.

The incident occured at approximately 12:00 pm local time.

Exactly six months after Joe Biden became president, the US conducted its first declared strike in Somalia of his administration, at either 10.21 or 11.05am on July 20th 2021.

According to Morad News the attack took place in the Qay’ad area of Muldug, with Sonna state media reporting that the airstrike was conducted on a fortified position in Qaycad village, between Wisil and Bacaadweyn. Sonna also said that 20 al Shabaab militants were killed in the attack, with “many more” injured.

SomaliAffairs instead said the strike “targeted Al-Shabab militants stationed between Qay’ad village and Harardhere town”.

The US military said the strike was near Galkayo – the first recorded US action since 2018 in that immediate area.

According to a Pentagon spokeswoman cited by the New York Times, the attack had struck al Shabaab fighters assaulting Somali special forces on the ground.

According to the Times, “The [drone] strike was carried out by military aircraft against Shabab fighters who were attacking members of the Danab, an elite American-trained Somali commando force, near the town of Galkayo in the country’s north, said a Pentagon spokeswoman, Cindi King.”

“Mrs. King said the Danab commandos were being advised remotely by American trainers when they came under attack. ‘There were no U.S. forces accompanying Somali forces during this operation,’ Mrs. King said in an email. “U.S. forces were conducting a remote advise-and-assist mission in support of designated Somali partner forces.’”

AFP noted that an official DoD letter stated that “A battle-damage assessment is still pending due to the ongoing engagement between Al-Shabab and Somali forces, however the command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this strike”.

Voice of America reported that Somali commanders had been hoping for a resumption of US strikes: “Somali Army spokesman Colonel Ali Hashi Abdinur told VOA earlier this week he hoped the U.S. would resume the strikes, especially to target the al-Qaida-linked fighters in areas where the Somali infantry can’t reach.  ‘We have good cooperation and collaboration with the U.S.,’ he said. ‘There are hard-to-reach areas in the forests where the airstrikes used to target their leaders.’”

The President of Galmudug State later tweeted that “The aim of the strike was to protect the brave armed forces those who are facing the enemy and it was successfully conducted as there were zero civilian casualties involved.”

An initial statement from the Somali government on the attack made no mention of US forces participation, placing the event at 11.05am local time. Breaking with recent convention, the strike was then declared directly by the Pentagon rather than by US Africa Command. However, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman confirmed to media that the strike had in fact been authorised by General Townsend of AFRICOM.

Biden’s first action in Somalia caused some discomfort in Congress. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia told Politco’s NatSec Daily that ““I remain concerned with the justification of ‘collective self-defense’ to respond with U.S. military force to protect foreign groups when there is no direct threat to the U.S., its armed forces, or citizens… I look forward to getting more information from the administration about this specific drone strike, especially as we continue to work together to rebalance the Article I and Article II powers on use of force issues and update the 2001 AUMF to reflect current threats against the United States.”

A trio of senators – Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Mike Lee of Utah – issued a statement condemning the attack: “We’re troubled that no one in the administration sought the required legal authorization from Congress for Tuesday’s drone strike in Somalia especially with no American forces at risk—and apparently, did not even check with our commander-in-chief.”

And Congresswoman Ilhan Omar wrote expressing her concerns about the strike to President Biden, requesting answers to eight specific questions about the action.

The incident occured between 10:21 am and 11:05 am local time.