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.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz