Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In an event not publicly disclosed at the time, US Africa Command conducted a strike in the vicinity of Saakow on February 21st, which it later said “did not result in any terrorist deaths, injuries or damage to equipment and infrastructure. Nor did we assess any civilians were killed or injured.”
The strike came to light, along with two others, when Voice of America said in early March that it had been notified of 25 airstrikes to date in Somalia in 2020 – while official records showed only 23 declared strikes. In response to a query from Airwars, an official noted by email:
“The following strikes are missing from your list up to March 10, 2020:
February 1–IVO Jilib
Feb 3–IVO Jilib
Feb 21–IVO Saakow
The three strikes that occurred Feb. 1, 3, and 21 did not result in any terrorist deaths, injuries or damage to equipment and infrastructure. Nor did we assess any civilians were killed or injured. All three strikes were against the al-Shabaab violent extremist organization, to include terrorists or infrastructure. As a matter of policy, we do not discuss the specifics on targeting.”
No additional information is presently known about this event.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention a strike on a compound in the vicinity of Saakow (سااكوو) town, for which due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Saakow are: 1.637795, 42.452829
Summary
Sources (1) [ collapse]
US Forces Assessment:
Original strike reports
[VIA email]
"The following strikes are missing from your list up to March 10, 2020:
February 1--IVO Jilib
Feb 3--IVO Jilib
Feb 21--IVO Saakow
The three strikes that occurred Feb. 1, 3, and 21 did not result in any terrorist deaths, injuries or damage to equipment and infrastructure. Nor did we assess any civilians were killed or injured. All three strikes were against the al-Shabaab violent extremist organization, to include terrorists or infrastructure. As a matter of policy, we do not discuss the specifics on targeting."