Members of the NGO interviewed twelve people, including victims, their relatives and witnesses, and analyzed satellite images and photos of weapons fragments to establish that bombs and Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drones had been used.
An investigation into possible “war crimes” called for
Mohamed Ali Deerey, who lost his younger brother and 9-year-old nephew in the attack, told Amnesty he ran towards the farm after hearing the first explosion, just before the second strike. “It was chaos. There were screams, blood, and bodies all over the ground,” he reported, quoted by Amnesty.
According to the NGO, the five families affected by the strikes belonged to a marginalized Somali community.
“In Somalia, civilians have too often borne the brunt of the suffering of war. These horrific deaths must not be overlooked,” Amnesty regional director Tigere Chagutah said in the report. “The Somali and Turkish governments must investigate these deadly strikes as a war crime.”
Turkey, an economic and military partner of Somalia
In March, the Somali government said it had carried out an operation targeting Shebab in this area, without mentioning civilian casualties. “More than thirty (jihadists) were killed during an operation carried out jointly with our armed forces and our international partners,” the Ministry of Information said in a press release on March 19.
Amnesty said it had unsuccessfully appealed to the Somali and Turkish governments for further information.
Ankara, which maintains close relations with Somalia, is its main economic and military cooperation partner. Somalia is also home to Turkey’s largest military base and overseas training center, according to Turkish media.
Since 2007, the Shebab have been leading a bloody insurgency to try to overthrow the Somali government supported by the international community and establish Islamic law. An offensive carried out since August 2022 in the center of the country by the army and clan militias, with air support from the American army and the African Union force in the country (Atmis), had made it possible to reconquer territories, before marking time.
