Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USSOM078

Incident date

July 15, 2017

Location

Sunguuni, Lower Juba, Somalia

Geolocation

0.005152, 42.65825 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

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 if 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 struck, telling the Bureau that the best they could say was all the unreported strikes were conducted in southern Somalia, “for operational security reasons”.

However, US investigative journalist Amanda Sperber was informed by AFRICOM on December 12th 2018 that this strike in fact took place in the vicinity of Sunguuni.

No additional information is presently known about this event. The assumed target was al Shabaab.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Known attacker
    US Forces
  • Known target
    Al-Shabaab

Sources (1) [ collapse]

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention that the strike occurred in Southern Somalia, in the vicinity of the village of Sunguuni, for which the coordinates are: 0.005152, 42.65825. Due to limited information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

US Forces Assessment:

  • Known belligerent
    US Forces
  • US Forces position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

US Forces

Via email from Africom to BIJ, November 17th, 2017:

"The best I can do on the strikes that were not on your list, for operational security reasons, is say they were all conducted in southern Somalia."

Via email from Africom to Amanda Sperber, December 12th 2018:

"The strike on 15 Jul 2017 was in the vicinity of Sunguuni. "

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Known attacker
    US Forces
  • Known target
    Al-Shabaab

Sources (1) [ collapse]