Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: SOM082 )
AFRICOM reported that the previous day it had “conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab militants on Jan. 18, approximately 50 kilometers northwest of Kismayo”.
It added: “No civilians were killed in this strike.” However, AFRICOM claimed that the airstrike killed “four (4) terrorists.”
In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM confirmed it had struck on this date what it says were “al-Shabaab Fighters”, in the vicinity of Beer Xaani, Somalia.
Separately on this date, Somalia and/ or US forces were reported to have killed several child soldiers during a rescue ground operation in the Lower Shabelle region. And US and African Union forces came under fire nearby. A US official insisted to Military Times that the airstrike was not in retaliation for that ambush. “’This was not in response to any particular mission. … This was a target of opportunity, and all within the confines that [the Defense Department] provides us with authority,’ said Samantha Reho, another spokeswoman for AFRICOM.”
Three al-Shabaab terrorists died in an explosion in Beer Xaani in Lower Jubba at approximately 6PM on Thursday… https://t.co/lyhUuaHime
— Abdirahman O. Osman (@engyarisow) January 19, 2018
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention that the strike took place in the village Beer Xaani, 50 kilometers northwest of Kismayo, for which the coordinates are: -0.22014, 42.19594. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.