(Previous Incident Code: SOM151)

The US military carried out an airstrike in the vicinity of Jamaame, Lower Juba Region, according to a press release issued the next day by US Africa Command.

It was later reported that one of those killed had been responsible for the death of a US soldier in Somalia in June 2018.

AFRICOM’s initial press release on April 20th asserted only that two al Shabaab terrorists were killed in the strike, and that it currently assessed that no civilians were harmed.

The statement further noted: “Two years ago, al-Shabaab maintained a level of freedom of movement that allowed the group to terrorize and displace Somali citizens in the Lower Juba River Valley, which is near Kismayo. Today, our Somali and AMISOM partners have pushed the extremist group back up the river valley, establishing multiple combat outposts along the way in order to ensure our partners can hold the territory they have successfully retaken.”

The Wall Street Journal later reported that “An April 19 U.S. airstrike in Somalia killed the al-Shabaab militant believed responsible for an American soldier’s death last year in an attack on an isolated outpost, according to the U.S. military. Abdullahi Jiibiyow was hit as he and another militant were riding a motorcycle about 10 miles from the village of Sanguuni in southern Somalia, a U.S. military official said.”

According to Army Times, Jibiyow was “a mortar team leader responsible for multiple attacks in the Lower Juba River Valley, in southern Somalia, according to U.S. Africa Command.”