US admits to killing two civilians in 2019 Somalia air strike

Amnesty Intentional said a banana farmer and a telecoms worker were killed in the attack

Mulindwa was arrested while trying to travel to Somalia to join up with Al Shabab. AP

The US on Monday acknowledged that it had killed two civilians and injured three in an air strike in Somalia in early 2019.

It was a rare admission of civilian casualties from US Africa Command military operations in the country.

The air strike was carried out near Kunyo Barrow in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region and the report said the intended target, two members of Somali extremist group Al Shabab, were also killed.

"Regrettably two civilians were killed and three others injured in a February 2019 air strike," Africom's commander, Gen Stephen Townsend, said in a report on Monday.

"We have the highest respect for our Somali friends and we are deeply sorry this occurred."

The report was released in response to claims that Africom is too secretive about its actions and accusations from rights groups that it did not fully account for civilians deaths.

The report said the civilian deaths were a result of US or Al Shabab weapons exploding in the air strike.

Amnesty Intentional said that a banana farmer and a telecoms worker were the civilians killed.

It was the second time Africom has acknowledged killing civilians in Somalia.

The first was an air strike in April 2018 in El Buur in the Galgaduud region of central Somalia, in which Africom reported that it had unintentionally killed two civilians.

The US has been conducting air strikes in Somalia for years to help defeat Al Shabab.

The extremists are seeking to topple Somalia's western-backed central government and set up its own authoritarian rule.

For nearly two decades, Al Shabab has been bombing and shooting military and civilian targets, including hotels and traffic junctions in Somalia and neighbouring countries including Kenya.

A regional peacekeeping force, Amisom, mandated by the African Union, also helps to defend the Somalian government.