US airstrikes kill more civilians in Somalia: Amnesty International

The US military is facing more allegations of killing civilians with airstrikes in Somalia, and now says it will address the issue more fully in upcoming public reports.

Amnesty International said in a new report on Wednesday that the US Africa Command, or AFRICOM, killed two civilians and injured three others in two airstrikes in February as it strikes back at the Somalia-based, Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab extremist group.

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One airstrike on Feb. 2 struck a home in the Middle Juba region as a family sat down to dinner, the Amnesty report says, and an 18-year-old girl was killed. Her sisters, aged 12 and 7, and their grandmother were wounded.

The other airstrike, on Feb. 24 near Jilib, killed a farmer who also worked for Hormuud Telecom, Somalia’s largest telecom company. At the time, Hormuud officials told The Associated Press that an employee had been killed.

After both airstrikes, the US military said Al Shabab fighters had been killed. The group controls parts of central and southern Somalia and often targets the capital, Mogadishu, with suicide bombings. The US has carried out more than 30 airstrikes against Al Shabab this year, well on pace to surpass the 63 airstrikes carried out in 2019.

Associated Press