Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USSOM116

Incident date

February 6, 2018

Location

حرمك, Vicinity of Kunya Barrow, 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 carried had so far carried out ten strikes since the start of the year, a US Africa Command spokesperson confirmed to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) at the start of April, which had recorded only six publicly reported strikes. The spokesperson provided details on the strikes BIJ had not recorded:

“The first took place on February 6 in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow. The target was an al-Shabaab fighter, but Africa Command said it assessed zero “terrorists” killed in the strike.” The report did not mention civilian harm.

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM  confirmed it had carried out a strike on what it says was an “al-Shabaab named objective” in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow, Somalia.

No additional information is presently known about this event.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention that the strike took place in the vicinity of the village of Kunya Barrow, for which the coordinates are: 0.7928186, 43.3841839. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    0
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Known belligerent
    US Forces
  • Known target
    Al-Shabaab

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, April 4th, 2018:

“U.S. forces conducted an airstrike on February 6 in the vicinity of Kunyo Barrow, Somalia. The target was an al-Shabaab fighter. We assess zero terrorists were killed in this strike.”

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    0
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Known belligerent
    US Forces
  • Known target
    Al-Shabaab