Pentagon Compensated Zero Civilian Victims in 2022 — Despite Evidence That the U.S. Killed a Mom and Child in Somalia

The United States did not offer compensation to the family of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter who were killed in a 2018 drone strike in Somalia, according to a new Pentagon report on civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations.

The analysis, issued almost a year after its congressionally mandated deadline, shows that the Pentagon made no ex gratia payments during 2022, despite setting aside millions in funds for making amends.

The April 1, 2018 attack in Somalia killed at least three — and possibly five — civilians, including 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed and her 4-year-old daughter Mariam Shilow Muse. A U.S. military investigation acknowledged the deaths of a woman and child but concluded their identities might never be known.

For more than five years, the family has tried to contact the U.S. government, including through U.S. Africa Command’s online civilian casualty reporting portal, but never received a response. Last year, I traveled to Somalia and spoke with seven of their relatives.

“They know innocent people were killed, but they’ve never told us a reason or apologized,” Abdi Dahir Mohamed, one of Luul’s brothers, told me last year. “No one has been held accountable.”