Thread by @charlie_savage, Meanwhile in Somalia Meanwhile in Somalia Meanwhile in Somalia Meanwhile in SomaliaPress [...]

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia

Press release doesn't say how many assessed KIA, but Africom tells me the Feb. 3 strike blew up an apparently empty vehicle and the Feb. 5 strike killed two suspected militants.

Meanwhile in Somalia
by @hysperbole https://www.thenation.com/article/somalia-secret-air-campaign/

Inside the Secretive US Air Campaign In Somalia

Since Trump took office, figuring out whom the US is killing and why has become nearly impossible.

https://www.thenation.com/article/somalia-secret-air-campaign/

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia - (Not in press release, but AFRICOM tells me this one killed 8 militants)

Meanwhile in Somalia

(note: there is some controversy in Somalia about these Feb. 11 strikes; Shabab's media armed claimed the strikes targeted civilian buildings in a residential area after Shabab purportedly thwarted a joint US-Somalia air landing operation nearby)

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia - 20 KIA

Meanwhile in Somalia - 35 KIA . (this was actually announced yesterday but i initially missed it)

Meanwhile in Somalia - 26 KIA

Meanwhile in Somalia: the article https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/us/politics/us-somalia-airstrikes-shabab.html

Trump Administration Steps Up Air War in Somalia (Published 2019)

Even as the Trump administration pulls back from counterinsurgency operations elsewhere, airstrikes targeting Islamist militants in Somalia have soared.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/us/politics/us-somalia-airstrikes-shabab.html

Meanwhile in Somalia

(per @siteintelgroup Shabab is claiming it killed the US Special Operations Forces commander and injured two other Americans, & that the subsequent US airstrike wounded three civilians, but Africa Command says no Americans or civilians were harmed)

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia - 3 EKIA

Meanwhile in Somalia
AFRICOM discloses airstrike with 3 EKIA but also, in unusual note, says it is "aware of reports alleging civilian casualties resulting from this airstrike"

AFRICOM denies @amnesty report on civilian casualties from its airstrikes in Somalia

My colleague @helenecooper on the @amnesty report that US airstrikes in Somalia have killed 17 civilians since 2017, which @USAfricaCommand denies https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/world/africa/amnesty-international-pentagon-somalia.html

Report Says U.S. Airstrikes Have Killed 14 Civilians in Somalia (Published 2019)

Since President Trump relaxed rules on airstrikes in Somalia, a number of civilians have been killed, Amnesty International said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/world/africa/amnesty-international-pentagon-somalia.html

Africom discloses that back in April 2018, when it put out a press release saying no civilian casualties from a particular airstrike in Somalia, it had actually assessed there to be credible reports of two bystander deaths. These are different form the ones @amnesty has alleged.

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia - a rare high-value target strike (catching up from last week)

Meanwhile in Somalia (catching up from last week)

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia (a somewhat bigger airstrike than usual: 13 KIA)

Meanwhile in Somalia: 4 KIA

Meanwhile in Somalia:
2 KIA
Also notable that a new pattern emerging: this is the 5th strike in Somalia since mid April whose target is described as ISIS, as opposed to Al Shabab.

Meanwhile in Somalia:
2 KIA (Shabab not ISIS)

Meanwhile in Somalia
3 KIA

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Kenya

Update to the Al Shabab attack in Kenya: three Americans were killed and two more were wounded

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia (3 KIA)

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia
4KIA

Meanwhile in Somalia
4 more EKIA

Meanwhile in Somalia
5 more E?KIA
Africom says aware of reports of civilian casualties and will investigate but currently assesses none

Meanwhile in Somalia
5 airstrikes - no assessed EKIA count, oddly

Meanwhile in Somalia
2 EKIA

Meanwhile in Somalia

Human Rights Group Says Two U.S. Strikes Killed Somali Civilians w/ @helenecooper https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/world/africa/somalia-civilian-casualties.html

Human Rights Group Says Two U.S. Strikes Killed Somali Civilians

A report by Amnesty International challenges the American military’s claim that the February strikes hit only terrorists and no innocent bystanders.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/world/africa/somalia-civilian-casualties.html

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia
(previously reported strike killed a Shabab leader)

Meanwhile in Somalia
Two strikes, 11 reported EKIA

On @just_security, former NSC senior director for counterterrorism @LukeHartig reflects on opacity in the Somalia drone war, calling this now 15-month-old tweet thread a "documentary record of how AFRICOM has quietly ratcheted up its campaign in Somalia." https://www.justsecurity.org/69771/what-counts-as-sufficient-transparency-on-civilian-casualties-in-somalia/

Meanwhile in Somalia

In a new report on civilian casualty allegations in Somalia, AFRICOM acknowledges that a US airstrike on Feb. 23, 2019, killed 2 innocent people and injured 3 others. It deems 20 other such allegations to be false, and is still examining 7 incidents.

Article by @helenecooper on the above civilian casualties report https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/world/africa/africa-command-civilian-casualties-somalia.html

In Rare Admission, U.S. Military Says Strikes Killed 2 Civilians in Somalia

The statement was a rare acknowledgment from the military of civilian casualties in its campaign against the Shabab extremist group. The airstrike was in February 2019.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/world/africa/africa-command-civilian-casualties-somalia.html

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia

bigger EKIA count than usual: 7
also notable: suspected ISIS rather than Shabab

Africom discloses that it has concluded that a US drone strike in Somalia on Feb. 2 killed a civilian and wounded three others. It decided that allegations of civilian deaths from six other strikes were unsubstantiated, and it has open inquiries into four.
https://www.africom.mil/pressrelease/33045/us-africa-command-civilian-casualty-assessmen

Meanwhile in Somalia

Oops I missed one: not long ago in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia

Meanwhile in Somalia
unusually large strike: 6 EKIA and 3 wounded

Meanwhile in Somalia
A C.I.A. paramilitary officer (and former SEAL Team 6 member) was killed in combat in Somalia in recent days.
by @julianbarnes @EricSchmittNYT & @adamgoldmanNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/us/politics/cia-officer-somalia-death.html

C.I.A. Officer Is Killed in Somalia

The officer’s combat death came as President Trump considers pulling back on American operations in the region.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/us/politics/cia-officer-somalia-death.html

Meanwhile in Somalia

Trump admin has now publicly acknowledged
(as we previously reported was in the works https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/us/politics/trump-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan-somalia-iraq.html)
that Trump ordered US ground forces out of Somalia by January 15 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/world/africa/trump-somalia-troop-withdrawal.html

Trump Orders All American Troops Out of Somalia

While the number of forces — about 700 — is small, it is a continuation of President Trump’s efforts to withdraw the United States from what he has described as endless wars.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/us/politics/trump-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan-somalia-iraq.html

Meanwhile in Somalia

Some folks still haven't gotten the opsec memo about turning off GPS tracking app that maps their workout jogs around the perimeter of bases

https://twitter.com/RYP__/status/1336279961469026307

[See also: https://charliesavage.com/?p=1173 ]

https://twitter.com/RYP__/status/1336279961469026307

Meanwhile in Somalia

-airstrike targeting "terrorists," plural but no count, believed part of an IED cell
-AFRICOM press release doesn't mention Trump order to pull out ground forces but says "remains committed" & "will continue" to work with intl/African partners versus Shabab

Meanwhile in Somalia

- Africom releases assessment of the strike announced yesterday "on the location of a known al-Shabaab explosives network leader near Jilib" : 8 EKIA, 2 more wounded
- Also releases this video: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/776269/federal-government-somalia-us-target-al-shabaab-explosives-makers

Meanwhile in Somalia

- a nobody-got-killed strike for Christmas Eve

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