(Previous Incident Code: SOM034)

At least four and up to 23 al Shabaab fighters were reported killed in a US airstrike at Buufow, near Janaaale. However more than three years later, one civilian fatality was also alleged.

Two US actions on April 1st and April 2nd were later said to be “self-defence air strikes against al Shabaab fighters who posed imminent threats to US and partner nation forces in Somalia,” Department of Defense spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Michelle Baldanza told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism via email.

She continued: “Our forces are working closely with partners to combat al Shabaab. Al Shabaab has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda; and is dedicated to creating safe havens for terrorist operations and is planning on conducting external attacks in and from Africa. We continue to assess the results of the strikes and will provide additional information as and when appropriate.”

The attacks hit on the same days that ground operations by AMISOM and Somali forces killed several al Shabaab fighters. It was not clear if the US strikes were in support of these ground operations or if they were separate incidents.

According to Voice of America, four al Shabaab militants including the  local commander for Janaale died: “Another suspected U.S. airstrike Friday [April 1st] was reported to have killed a commander known as ‘Qorilow,’ the head of al-Shabab forces in Jannaale town, and three other militants.”

However AMISOM reported up to 23 militant deaths from air and ground operations. According to Xinhua, “AMISOM’s Sector One Commander Brigadier General Sam Okiding confirmed on Saturday that Al-Shabaab commander for the region of Janaale Abdirashir Buqdube, together with 22 others, was killed following air strikes and ground operations against the insurgents’ hideout along the Buufow road. ‘Al-Shabaab cannot hide and we shall continue to work hard to deny them safe haven until the people have been liberated from Al-Shabaab terror,’ Okiding said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.”

In December 2019, US investigative reporter Amanda Sperber reported civilian harm in association with this event: “Nurto Mohamed Nor Issak, 59, doesn’t want to talk about the coconut trees she lost after the U.S. air strike three years ago. She wants to talk about her son who was killed. Who cares about her trees?  Based on Issak’s recollections, the strike was likely one of two carried out April 1 and April 2, 2016, near where Issak lives, in Janale—about 60 miles southwest of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

“The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates as many as 29 people were killed by the air attacks. The Pentagon claims the April 2016 strikes were self-defense against fighters with the militant Islamist group al-Shabab who “posed imminent threats to U.S. and partner nation forces in Somalia.” Issak is adamant that her son was not with the militants and that she told him “not to mix with al-Shabab.”

“The reason I’m speaking with Issak, though, is that—regardless of her son’s alleged association with al-Shabab—her coconut trees are still decapitated and her income depleted, three years hence. Issak says the strike hit her sugarcane and coconut tree plantation, which stretched about 7 acres. Al-Shabab bans smartphones in the villages it controls, but Issak managed to use one to take photos of the damage. “The coconut trees lost their heads,” she says. In the pictures, the tree trunks are stark against the blue sky, masts without sails.”