Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A possible US or Kenyan airstrike was conducted in the Bur Madow area, Bay region according to Mareeg Media.
The article, published a day after the alleged strike, did not state if anybody had been killed.
According to Mareeg: “Unknown fighter jets carried out an airstrike targeting Al-Shabaab foreign fighters in south west of Somalia. The strike was carried out near Bur Madow area in Bay region. It’s unclear who carried out Thursday’s strike. Somali government has not commented on the new air strike yet.”
No additional sources have presently been identified for this allegation.
Asked whether it had been responsible for this event, in February 2020 a senior AFRICOM official told Airwars that this was not the case. However, this may not preclude actions by the CIA which conducts its own undeclared strikes in Somalia.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention that the strike took place in the Bur Madow area in the Bay region. Based on UN mapping of the area, there are two settlements that this location could refer to: Madow Burre at 2.95976, 44.20776 and Madow-Buure at 2.57362, 44.12324. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the correct location. The generic coordinates for the area between the two settlements are: 2.781494, 44.183406.