SAEDNEWS: In letters seen by Al Jazeera, US AFRICOM admits to killing civilians in air raids, but refuses 'condolence payment'.
Growing up in a nomadic family in central Somalia’s Galgaduud region, Luul Dahir Mohamed never attended school, like many girls in her Bedouin community. After marriage, she dreamed of a better life for her children, Mohamed and Mariam. Following the end of her marriage, she relocated to El Buur in 2018 to provide for them.
But just months after moving, tragedy struck. On April 1, 2018, Luul, 22, and her four-year-old daughter were traveling in a pick-up truck toward the town of Dac when US drones struck their vehicle. Reports indicate Luul initially survived the first strike, clutching her daughter, only to be killed along with Mariam in a second strike.
Her brother, Abubakar Dahir Mohamed, told Al Jazeera:
"The Americans claim to uphold human rights, but when it comes to people like my sister and niece, their lives don’t matter."
At the time, AFRICOM, the US Africa Command, claimed the strike targeted “five terrorists” and destroyed one vehicle, insisting no civilians were harmed. However, an internal review conducted a year later confirmed that a mother and child had indeed died—marking the first US admission of civilian casualties in Somalia from their decades-long air campaign.
Recently, Humanus, a legal rights organization representing civilian victims, received a letter from AFRICOM confirming the deaths of Luul and Mariam. While AFRICOM stated it is “committed to learning from the circumstances around these tragic deaths,” it also claimed that making a condolence payment to the family, including Luul’s now-13-year-old son, is “not feasible.”
Rights groups and the victims’ family insist that acknowledgment alone is insufficient. The case underscores the human cost of drone warfare in Somalia and the ongoing struggle for accountability in US military operations across Africa.
This heartbreaking story puts a spotlight on the realities faced by civilians caught in the crossfire of international military campaigns, and the urgent need for transparency and justice.
