Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USSOM089

Incident date

August 31–September 1, 2017

Location

حرمك, Kunya Barrow near Barawe, Middle Juba, Somalia

Geolocation

0.7928186, 43.3841839 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

The US said it carried out a strike near Barawe in southern Somalia on August 31st, killing one al Shabaab fighter and wounding one other.

AP reported that “At least one missile struck a location outside Barawe that the extremists often use to launch attacks on the government-held town, a Somali intelligence official said. He declined to give further details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.”

Officials told Voice of America that the fighter killed was a key al Shabaab commander. He was named by Aden Omar, the district commissioner of Barawe town, as Abu Xudeyfi – while local sources gave his name as Sheikh Abdirahman Xudeyfi. There were no reports of civilian harm.

“I can confirm that the airstrike happened on Friday [September 1]. It was carried out by a suspected US drone. The strike targeted al-Shabaab officials. Our intelligence sources confirm that a top al-Shabaab commander in charge of recruiting fighters for the militants was killed in the strike,” Omar told VOA.

“The killed official was named Abu-Xudeyfi, probably his al-Shabaab name; we are currently assessing if any other al-Shabaab official was hit in the attack, and will provide additional information as appropriate,” he added.

Local sources told VOA the strike hit a vehicle in which al-Shabaab officials were traveling in near Kunya Barrow village in the Lower Shabelle region. In a followup report, VOA said that “a U.S. strike killed Abdirahman Hudeyfi, former al-Shabab governor of the Jubba regions, while he was en route to a market to buy a sheep to slaughter for Eid al-Adha celebrations, according to Somali officials.” It also placed the date of the strike on September 1st.

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM again confirmed it had struck what it says were al Shabaab fighters on this date, in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Known attacker
    US Forces
  • Known target
    Al-Shabaab
  • Belligerents reported killed
    1
  • Belligerents reported injured
    1

Sources (5) [ collapse]

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Kunya Barrow, for which the coordinates are: 0.7928186, 43.3841839. Due to limited information and satellite imagery 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

Daily Mail/AP, September 1st, 2017:

"MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - The U.S. military says it has conducted an airstrike in Somalia that killed an al-Shabab extremist and wounded another.
The statement Friday by the U.S. Africa Command says the strike was carried out Thursday near Barawe in southern Somalia."

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Known attacker
    US Forces
  • Known target
    Al-Shabaab
  • Belligerents reported killed
    1
  • Belligerents reported injured
    1

Sources (5) [ collapse]