According to a new statement by US Africa Command (Africom), the US
carried out an airstrike against Dheerow Sanle, in southwestern Somalia
on Wednesday, killing 10 people whom they labeled members of the al-Shabaab movement.
Details were scant in the statement, which mostly read as boilerplate
from the usual airstrike statements. None of the slain were identified
beyond being militants, and Africom said no civilians were killed or
injured.
They always say no civilians were killed in these statements, and it’s
not always true. In general, civilian reports out of Somalia are slow to
emerge, and likely won’t emerge for days, long after the official
statement.
Officially, the statement said the attack was designed to increase
pressure on al-Shabaab and to limit their freedom of movement across
Somalia. This is the first US strike in Somalia of 2019, after 47
strikes in 2018.
US Airstrike Kills 10 ‘Militants’ in SW Somalia
Africa Command: Strike diminished 'freedom of movement' for al-Shabaab
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.
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