Two US strikes took place in Somalia on November 12th, with one targeting al Shabaab and the other hitting Islamic State, according to US Africa Command. The strikes killed “several” fighters, it said.

The first strike against al Shabaab is recorded in a separate event. The second attack was carried out at approximately 0900 local time against Islamic State in Somalia’s Puntland region, AFRICOM said.

This and the four additional strikes between November 9th and November 12th killed “more than 40 terrorists,” a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters on November 13th. He did not say how many people were killed in which of the five strikes, “for operational reasons,” an Africom spokesperson told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on November 15th.

Four of the 40 dead were members of the Islamic State group – they are counted in this entry. The rest were in al Shabaab. We have logged 19 previously unreported casualties in this entry as well, while the exact accounting of fatality to strike remains secret.

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM said it had struck what it says were Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS-S) fighters, in the vicinity of the Golis Mountains.

The incident occured at approximately 9:00 am local time.

On November 3rd 2017, AFRICOM reported that it had “conducted two separate airstrikes against ISIS, in northeastern Somalia on Nov. 3”. It made no mention of civilian harm.

However, AFRICOM stated that the strikes had killed “several terrorists”, though it was “currently assessing the results of the strikes”. The command added: “The first strike occurred at approximately midnight local Somalia time with the second separate strike occurring at approximately 11 a.m. local Somalia time.”

In a subsequent FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, AFRICOM said it had struck what it says were Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham in Somalia (ISIS-S) fighters, in the vicinity of the Golis Mountains.

Intelligence sources told VOA the second round of strikes killed fighters gathered at a place believed to be a burial site for those killed in the overnight strike (separately listed by Airwars for November 2nd 2017)..

Associated Press spoke to a Somali security official who said at least six missiles hit Buqa, described as a remote mountainous village roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Qandala town in Puntland. Intelligence sources told VOA at least four missiles hit caves in Buqa Valley.

The Puntland region’s president told VOA the leader of the ISIS group was the target of the strikes, but that he had not been killed. “They [US] were targeting those troublemakers and their biggest leader Abdulkadir Mumin, they were looking for them,” Abdiweli Mohamed Ali told VOA. “Based on the information I’m getting he is still alive and is not dead.” An unnamed US official had separately told AP the strikes may have targeted top leaders of the group.

A senior Somali intelligence official also told VOA it was “likely” Mumin survived the attack, but believed up to 20 fighters were killed in the strikes. They added that some of the caves they were sheltering in collapsed on them as a result of the bombing. The official believes two foreign fighters were also targeted in the area, including a Sudanese fighter.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The US conducted its first known strike against so-called Islamic State in Somalia. CNN reported that both strikes were carried out by armed drone.

According to Associated Press, “A US official said the strikes were carried out in northeastern Somalia, with the first around midnight local time and the second later in the morning. The official was not authorised to discuss the mission publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.”

The news agency added that “A Somali security official says at least six missiles struck in Buqa, a remote mountainous village roughly 60km (37 miles) north of Qandala town in Somalia’s northern state of Puntland. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. The US Africa Command said “several terrorists” were killed in the strikes. It said they were carried out early on Friday in northeastern Somalia in coordination with Somalia’s government.”

AP was not clear as to whether only the latter or both strikes took place at Buqa.

Voice of America noted the following: “The chairman of the town of Qandala, Jama Mohamed Qurshe, told VOA Somali that several missiles had hit a base for IS militants at Buqa village, 60 kilometers south of his town in the semiautonomous region of Puntland. ‘According to the information we are getting from the ground, six missiles hit the militants’ base in the mountainous area. Local residents and pastoralists were shocked and fled from the area,’ Qurshe said. He said that prior to the strike, residents reporting hearing airplane sounds. Details of the strike were still not clear — locals said the remote area was accessible only to the militants — but local officials and residents suspected the airstrike targeted the group’s senior leaders and perhaps even its top leader.”

According to a Freedom of Information FOIA response obtained by journalist Joshua Eaton in May 2019, this US strike took place on November 2nd 2017 in the vicinity of the Golis Mountains against Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham in Somalia (ISIS-S) fighters.

The incident occured at approximately 11:59 pm local time.