US Airstrikes Hit Somalia, Killing 37 ‘Fighters’

AFRICOM says attacks limit al-Shabaab's leadership

US African Command (AFRICOM) has issued a statement Tuesday claiming a pair of airstrikes against targets near Debatscile in Somalia. They reported 37 people were killed in the attacks, all of them “al-Shabaab fighters.

There was no confirmation of the identities of the slain, and al-Shabaab has not issued a statement on the matter. AFRICOM insisted that they do not believe any civilians were killed in the attacks.

Claims of no civilian deaths are virtually omnipresent in AFIRCOM statements, though they don’t always pan out, and it may be several days or even weeks until civilians from the area can get news out and confirm exactly who was killed.

Somalia’s government has also not offered any statement on this matter. This is somewhat unusual, as generally they issue statements confirming that the US strikes were part of joint operations.

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.