Airwars assessment
The US carried out an air strike on September 13th, killing six al Shabaab members, according to a press release from US Africa Command.
The strike took place at approximately 0215 local time (1115 GMT), hitting an area in southern Somalia about 260km south of the capital, AFRICOM said.
The original press release said three strikes took place. However, a spokesperson told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that AFRICOM had later changed how it classified airstrikes in October and that the three attacks carried out in this operation were now seen as constituting a single strike operation.
Military Times noted that “U.S. officials overseeing the U.S. mission in Africa would not describe the air assets involved in these strikes. ‘We have a range of capabilities at various locations in the region that will allow us to carry out these airstrikes, including manned and unmanned platforms,’ said Robyn Mack, a spokesperson for AFRICOM.”
The attack was carried out under the parameters of authorities granted by President Trump in March. This gave US commanders greater freedom to launch strikes and raids in a geographically-defined area for at least 180 days.
In a Freedom of Information response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM placed the date of this action on September 12th – and said that it had targeted al Shabaab fighters in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow.
The incident occured at approximately 2:15 am local time.
Summary
Sources (3) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention that the strike occurred in the vicinity of the village Kunya Barrow, 260 kilometers from Mogadishu, in Southern Somalia. The coordinates for Kunya Barrow 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:
Original strike reports
In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted three (3) precision airstrikes in Somalia against al-Shabaab on Wed., Sept. 13 at approximately 2:15 a.m. local Somalia time, killing six (6) terrorists.
The operation occurred in southern Somalia, about 260 kilometers south of the capital, Mogadishu. The U.S. conducted this operation within the parameters of the authorities granted by the President in March 2017, which allows U.S. forces to conduct lethal action against al-Shabaab within a geographically-defined area in support of partner forces in Somalia.
Al-Shabaab has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and is dedicated to providing safe haven for terrorist attacks throughout the world. Al-Shabaab has publicly committed to planning and conducting attacks against the U.S. and our partners in the region.
U.S. forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect Americans and to disable terrorist threats. This includes partnering with AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces (SNSF); targeting terrorists, their training camps and safe havens throughout Somalia, the region and around the world.