MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – At least 216 civilians in Somalia were recorded as killed or injured by U.S. air operations between 2007 and May 2025, according to an investigation supported by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ).

The investigation described the figure as the minimum number of civilian casualties its researchers were able to document in the incidents reviewed. It does not mean the United States has confirmed each casualty.

Somalia in the four-country picture

The investigation covered Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Syria recorded the highest toll, with 1,336 people killed or wounded, followed by Yemen with 991, Iraq with 793 and Somalia with 216, for a combined total of at least 3,336. Somalia’s share is the smallest, about 6.5 percent of the total.

How the figures were built

Investigators analyzed 884 air operations across the four countries, excluding disputed or unclassifiable incidents and using the lowest documented casualty estimates. The Somalia total is therefore a floor, not a ceiling.

Two findings are reported for all four countries combined, not for Somalia alone. Children account for nearly 42 percent of the casualties documented across the four countries, and the investigation does not establish that breakdown for Somalia’s figure. The investigation also found 2.3 civilians were killed for every combatant killed during the opening months of President Donald Trump’s second term, again across all four countries. It attributes the civilian toll to U.S. policies governing strike authorization and the level of civilian harm commanders are permitted to accept.

An expert view on why civilians are missed

The investigation quotes Wes Bryant, a former Pentagon civilian protection official, who said airstrikes often accompany ground operations conducted overnight or at dawn, and that failures to detect civilians contributed to many deaths. His comments address U.S. air operations generally, not Somalia specifically.

The strike numbers

The investigation’s data ends in May 2025, so it does not cover the full 2025 campaign. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) carried out 124 strikes in Somalia in 2025, up from 10 in 2024, according to an AFRICOM spokesperson. That surpassed the previous all-time high of 63 in 2019. AFRICOM had launched at least 86 strikes in Somalia in 2026 as of September.

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