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
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
Six alleged al-Shabaab members were killed by declared US airstrikes on the small town of Awdal 248 km northeast of Mogadishu near Cadale, Middle Shabelle, on December 23, 2022. AFRICOM released a statement the same day that “At the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted a self-defense strike, Dec. 23, in
Up to four militants were killed in alleged Yemeni or US airstrikes in Mount Khanfar on April 18, 2012 according to local sources. However, Xinhua reported that there were no casualties. Dawn News reported that a second air raid hit another position held by militants, but did not provide any further details. Alhawyah quoted a
Around midnight on May 30th-May 31st, 2024, 14 civilians, including a sailor named Ayoub Abdullah Hassan Zaidan, were killed and 25 other civilians were injured, including one heavily injured sailor, as a result of the declared US-UK airstrike on the Coast Guard building located in the Salif (Al Sulayf) seaport in the Al Hudayhah Governorate,
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
The United States launched a series of drone attacks on al-Shabaab in Kismayo, according to residents, who reported strikes on three locations. The BBC reported that “At least three targets were hit around Kismayo, the southern port which is under the control of the militants. One reconnaissance drone is reported to have crashed… al-Shabaab are patrolling the
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
AFRICOM publicly reported the first of four strikes on the same area on the same day – asserting that it had killed eight al Shabaab militants in the vicinity of Gandarshe. The tweet was issued shortly after noon GMT, indicating that the attack was earlier that morning. Two days later AFRICOM revealed that it had
The US military carried out an airstrike in Jilib, Middle Juba region, according to a press release issued the following day by US Africa Command. AFRICOM asserted that one terrorist was killed in the strike, and that it currently assessed that no civilians were harmed in the action. For the first time and in the
US air support was potentially involved in an operation to retake areas of the Lower Shabelle region which killed 15 al Shabaab fighters, Radio Shabelle reported. Colonel Mohamed Abdullahi Arale confirmed to state media that the Somali National Army had retaken Yaaqbari Weyne, MadaxMarodi and Lego villages. Colonel Arale reportedly said that his troops had
A US strike took place in Bayda governorate against an unspecified target on February 12th 2018, a US Central Command spokesperson later told the Long War Journal. One source at the time of the attack, Yemen Monitor, claimed: “American drones launched more than once raids targeting sites of the Popular Resistance in Al Bayda Governorate,
Local reports – including by the former head of Somalia’s national intelligence service – said that a senior al Shabaab figure was killed in Salagle. According to Mareeg, “al-Shabaab’s chief of security, Sheikh Jafar Ali Mohamud, and a few other members were killed” in an event at Salagle. Other actions were reported at nearby Sakow
US Africa Command declared on the same day that it had conducted an airstrike on al Shabaab in the vicinity of Jilib, which it said had killed one militant. It was later claimed that a 20-year old farmer named Mohamed Moalim was killed in the strike, with the location given as Hoombooy – although in
The US declared on the same date an airstrike in the vicinity of Jilib – which it said had killed “one terrorist.” However local sources, some pro al Shabaab, said the victim was in fact Mohamud Haji Sirad, a director of the Hormud telecoms company for Middle Juba. According to the Somali Guardian Mr Sirad
Reported US drone strikes targeted alleged AQAP militants in the Al Bazqama and Riman area of Mudiyah, Abyan governorate at dawn on March 31st 2017. There were no known reports of civilian casualties, though some sources claimed that a civilian farm had been destroyed. Alittihad reported that, according to a local source, three strikes took
In an event not publicly disclosed at the time, US Africa Command conducted a strike in the vicinity of Jilib on February 3rd, which it later said “did not result in any terrorist deaths, injuries or damage to equipment and infrastructure. Nor did we assess any civilians were killed or injured.” The strike came to
Al Shabaab members or civilians were allegedly killed in US strikes near Jilib and Basra. AFRICOM later denied conducting strikes in the area. Harun Maruf reported: “Overnight airstrikes killed dozens of Al-Shabaab militants in Jilib, Cmdr of AS’s Hisba police station in the town, Hassan Dhere, his deputy and a 3rd official among the dead,