US airstrike allegedly kills 22 in Somali, sparks protests

At least 22 soldiers were killed in an alleged US airstrike on Somali army base Wednesday according to a local minister. The strike hit Galmudug army base in Jehdin village in the Mudug region of north-central Somalia. 15 were also wounded.

The local government claimed that the incident resulted from incorrect information being transmitted to the US by the government of the autonomous region of Putland.

Abdi Osman, security minister for Galmudug told Anadolu news agency

American airstrikes targeted our forces based in the region and killed 17 and injured 15 after Puntland Administration authorities gave wrong information about our base.

Further, Colonel Hassan Farah, a commander of local security forces explained:

[Our] forces were attacked when they tried to come out from the base by Puntland forces with nine vehicles … and the United States’ warplanes

A US military source told Anadolu that the strike had been carried out against “a Somali-led counter-terrorism” which was intended “to interdict an al-Shabaab IED-making network”

On the other hand Pentagon spokesman, Captain Jeff Davis, described a series of events where the US forces had acted to support and defend Somali allies from al-Shabaab militants who had attacked them,

Somali forces returned fire in self-defense and the U.S. conducted a self-defense strike to neutralize the threat and in doing so killed nine enemy fighters

Though he went on to suggest that an investigation would take place.

However, while local police personal also claimed that the strike killed al-Shabaab militants, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters,

We neither have a base nor forces in Galkayo area

Residents of Galkayo, a nearby town, protested against the strike on Wednesday by burning the US flag and called for a response from the Galmudug government.