Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — A US drone strike on the southern Somali town of Jamaame killed at least 12 civilians, including eight children, in one of the deadliest American operations for civilians in Somalia in nearly two decades, according to a Guardian investigation.
The strike hit Jamaame, in the Lower Jubba region, on the morning of November 15, 2025, as families ate breakfast, children returned from Qur’an school, and farmers worked in nearby fields.
Witnesses described drones circling overhead before a series of explosions tore through the town, flattening homes, destroying a Qur’anic school and leaving families searching through rubble for the bodies of their children.
US Africa Command, known as Africom, acknowledged conducting airstrikes in the area that day and said the operation targeted Al-Shabaab. But it has not admitted any civilian deaths, identified the intended targets or released a detailed casualty assessment.
The Guardian said it used photographs, video footage, X-rays of children’s shrapnel injuries and witness testimony to build the first detailed account of the strike.
Families wiped out
Among the dead were Safiyo Hassan Abukar, who was heavily pregnant, and four of her children. Her husband, Abdullahi Mohamed Abo Sheikh Ali, was working in the fields when the strike hit their home.
His grandfather, Mohamed, said he ran to the destroyed house and found clothes and books scattered across the ground.
“I was in shock, standing before the bodies of my grandchildren. They were ripped to pieces,” he told the Guardian.
Safiyo’s eldest son, 10-year-old Abdifatah, was found close to his mother. Relatives said he rarely left her side and often helped her with household chores.
His brothers Abdinasir, seven, Hussein, six, and Abdurahman, four, also died in the strike.
Other families suffered similar losses.
Mohamed Hassan Abdulle said he had gone to borrow a motorcycle to move his family away from danger, but returned to find his home destroyed.
His wife, Farhiyo Hassan Nuur, 26, and their 10-month-old daughter, Layla Mohamed Hassan, lay dead beneath the rubble.
Gedow Ibrahim, a farmer who had been tending sesame crops outside Jamaame, said he rushed home after a neighbour told him something hit his house.
He found his daughters Maryan, nine, and Farhiyo, seven, dead. Another daughter, Amin, eight, survived with shrapnel wounds to her shoulder, thigh, hip and calf.
Witnesses also said a pregnant woman who had taken shelter at the Qur’anic school died, while her two-year-old child, tied to her back, survived.
Questions over target
Residents interviewed by the Guardian said at least 15 explosions struck Jamaame.
One witness said nine strikes hit the Burburka neighbourhood alone, while another said the blasts destroyed at least 18 homes.
The strike has raised serious questions about US intelligence, targeting procedures and the level of oversight in Washington’s expanding air campaign in Somalia.
Africom said the operation formed part of efforts to weaken Al-Shabaab’s ability to threaten the United States, its forces and its citizens abroad.
Jamaame lies in territory broadly influenced by Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group that has fought Somalia’s government for more than 15 years.
But witnesses told the Guardian that Al-Shabaab fighters were not present inside the town when the strike happened.
They described the area hit as a civilian neighbourhood populated by farmers, herders, women, children and elderly people.
“There was no Al-Shabaab presence in our town, only women, children and elders,” Marian Haji Abdi Guled, whose children were wounded in the strike, told the newspaper.
The Guardian said the available testimony suggested US drone teams were highly likely to have seen children in the area.
Modern US drones carry high-resolution cameras that allow operators to distinguish between adults and children in real time.
The report also questioned whether faulty intelligence, rushed target approval or misleading local information passed to US officials led to the strike.
Trump-era escalation
The investigation places the Jamaame strike within a sharp escalation of US military operations in Somalia under President Donald Trump’s second administration.
According to the report, Trump’s administration removed restrictions imposed under former President Joe Biden that required White House approval for certain drone strikes in Somalia.
The change gave Africom commanders greater authority to approve attacks without direct White House sign-off.
Conflict monitoring group ACLED recorded 123 US airstrikes in Somalia last year, more than six times the previous year’s total and double the earlier record set in 2019.
By April this year, it had documented 49 more attacks.
Analysts cited by the Guardian said the looser rules allowed a higher tempo of operations with less political oversight.
They also warned that civilian casualties could fuel resentment and strengthen Al-Shabaab’s recruitment narrative.
Despite years of US strikes, Al-Shabaab remains one of the most powerful militant groups in Africa.
The group continues to control rural areas, carry out complex attacks and threaten Mogadishu.
No apology, no compensation
The Guardian said no investigation appears to have been launched into the Jamaame strike, and no one has faced accountability for the civilian deaths.
Families of the victims said neither US officials nor Somalia’s federal government had contacted them.
Several survivors said they wanted justice, answers and compensation.
“I need to know why my children were bombed as they returned from Qur’an school,” Ibrahim said.
The United States maintains an annual budget to compensate civilians harmed in military operations, but the report said no Somali families affected by drone strikes had received payments.
Residents said drones continued to hover over Jamaame for months after the attack, deepening fear among those who remained in the town.
Mohamed, who lost four grandchildren, said he still relives the moment he searched the rubble for their bodies.
“My grandchildren just loved learning the Qur’an,” he said. “On their last day, they didn’t even get a chance to eat breakfast.”
The Jamaame strike now stands as one of the gravest civilian casualty allegations against the United States in Somalia since the 1993 Black Hawk Down battle in Mogadishu.
It has raised renewed questions over transparency, accountability and the human cost of Washington’s long-running war against Al-Shabaab.
