Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USSOM320

Incident date

October 6, 2020

Location

Weelshit, Gedo, Somalia

Geolocation

3.11895, 46.39165 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Subdistrict level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

An unidentified airstrike allegedly killed ten or eleven Al Shabaab members in Weelshit.

Strategic Intelligence wrote: “Unidentified aerial strike at 1145pm on 06.10.2020 killed 10 Terrorist who are members of the Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Harakat Shabaab al Mujahideen alongside their operations commander.”

It added: “The blitz in Weelshit, Gedo targeted Shabaab al Mujahideen terrorists temporary surveillance and reconnaissance output approximately 10 km north of Daresalam village which lies 20 km South East of Konton where Kenya Army AMISOM contingent has an FOB. The terrorist organization had set up the outpost to mirror and subsequently threaten the Forward Operating Base.

Among those killed in the airstrike include Shabaab’s chief Zakat collector in Gedo Maalim Yussuf mohamud Digale.”

In the headline of the news piece it says that 11 people were killed.

The incident occured at 23:45:00 local time.

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention the village of Weelshit, allegedly 10km north of Daresalam. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Daresalam are: 3.11895, 46.39165.

  • Reports of the incident mention the village of Weelshit, allegedly 10km north of Daresalam.

    Imagery:
    Google Earth

Summary

  • Strike status
    Single source claim
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Discounted
    Those killed were combatants, or other parties most likely responsible.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Unknown
  • Belligerents reported killed
    10–11

Sources (1) [ collapse]

Unknown Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Unknown
  • Unknown position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Single source claim
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Discounted
    Those killed were combatants, or other parties most likely responsible.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Unknown
  • Belligerents reported killed
    10–11

Sources (1) [ collapse]