Pentagon Confirms Weekend Drone Strike Against Somalia

Unclear If They Killed Shabaab Leader or Not

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby has confirmed that over the weekend, the US carried out a drone strike south of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, hoping to kill a leader in al-Shabaab.

Kirby said there was no confirmation yet whether they killed the target, or indeed anybody, but he did insist that they also had no indications that they’d killed any civilians either.

“If he no longer breathes then this is another significant blow to al-Shabaab,” Kirby added, though again, there’s no evidence that’s actually the case, and officials are just hoping the attack killed somebody valuable.

That’s in keeping with the US drone wars across the world, with little intelligence needed to launch an attack, and attacks that actually kill their intended targets extremely rare.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.