Incident Code
Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
US declared airstrikes near Cadale, Middle Shabelle, Somalia on December 17, 2022 allegedly killed eight al-Shabaab militants, with no civilians killed or injured.
AFRICOM released a statement on December 18th that “At the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted two collective self-defense strikes, one each on Dec. 14 and 17, 2022, in support of Somali National Army engagements against al-Shabaab near Cadale, Somalia…The Dec. 17 strike took place approximately 220 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu, also in the vicinity of Cadale. The command’s initial assessment is 8 al-Shabaab terrorists were killed. U.S. Africa Command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed in either strike.”
@BCFinucane pointed out that the US Congress failed to include a provision in the military spending bill that would have restricted designation of partner force eligible for collective self defense strikes.
VOA News reported that the government also published images and videos of what they alleged were al-Shabaab fighters killed in the operation, in addition to announcing that an al-Shabaab commander identified as Yusuf Mohamed Jingab was among those killed in the operation.
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Cadale, for which the generic coordinates are: 2.762617, 46.321699. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.