US Africa Command is pushing back against an Amnesty International report claiming US airstrikes in Somalia have caused massive civilian casualties. However, the Trump administration has long abandoned any consideration of civilian deaths, and commanders have admitted they don't investigate until complaints arise.
AI's report, “The Hidden US War in Somalia,” officially published on March 20, finds that 14 civilians were killed in five airstrikes between October 2018 and February 2019 and separates those strikes into two categories: “The first category includes two incidents in which the US military appears to have targeted suspected Al-Shabaab members riding in vehicles, killing civilians near the targeted vehicle… The second category includes three incidents in which civilians were killed apparently either after being mistakenly identified as Al-Shabaab fighters or another lawful military objective, or incidentally in a strike against a lawful military objective.”
In the first category, AI notes that in two incidents, “it appears that US forces had ample opportunity to avoid civilian deaths and injuries, by taking feasible precautions, as required by IHL [international humanitarian law], including by carrying out the attack before the vehicle entered, or drove by, the civilian areas.”
In the second category, AI says, “The misidentification appears to have occurred either because the target was wrongly identified as a specific individual or…
