The United States has carried a drone strike in Somalia, marking the second US drone raid in the East African nation within a five day period.
According to AFRICOM, which oversees US military operations on the African continent, allied Somali government troops where bogged down in an encounter with Al-Shabaab fighters, which led to US air support being called in.
The US drone attack took place in the vicinity of Teedaan, a rural village situated in the Hiiraan province of Somalia on the 14th of August. A total of 13 people, all accused of being militants where killed in the drone strike, AFRICOM went on to say.
Five days prior, on the 9th of August, the United States via AFRICOM carried out a similar drone strike in the Hiiraan province of Somalia. This time on the outskirts of the densely populated city of Beledweyne and claimed to have killed four militants.
The identities of the 17 people killed in both drone strikes remains unknown. Furthermore, the brunt of the US drone strikes in Somalia, takes place in Al-Shabaab controlled territory, which is inaccessible for local journalists and media.
Therefore, the identies of the victims are often hard to determine yet AFRICOM is adamant on zero civilian casualties. However, many prominent international organizations say other wise.
A scratching report published by Amnesty International in 2019 accused the United States of committing war crimes in Somalia due to its deadly drone campaign, which indiscriminately targets civilians.
The United States has been carrying out drone strikes in Somalia since January 2007 after the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) where violently overthrown from power just a few weeks prior in a full blown invasion spearheaded by the United States, that saw over 100,000 Ethiopian troops invade Somalia under the cover of American drones, which changed Somalia forever and led to the rise of Al-Shabaab.
Halgan Media
