U.S. special operations troops fired on 10 unarmed Somali civilians who were killed during an Aug. 25 mission in that country and afterward ordered local forces to plant guns near the bodies, according to a report by the Daily Beast.
The news site’s on-the-ground investigation found about a dozen special operators relying on faulty intelligence played a lead role in carrying out the Barire mission, which was aimed at the al Shabaab terror group but instead resulted in the deaths of farmers and at least one child.
U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, or SOCAF, launched an investigation of the incident after reports of civilian deaths emerged in August and concluded Wednesday “that the only casualties were those of armed enemy combatants.”
The command also said the mission was led by the Somali National Army.
“Before conducting operations with partner forces, SOCAF conducts detailed planning and coordination to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties,” according to a released statement.
U.S. military missions in Africa have come under increasing scrutiny following an ambush in October of Green Berets in Niger that resulted in the death of four soldiers. One of the casualties, Sgt. La David Johnson, was missing for two days and may have been bound and executed, according to press reports.
The military operates widely throughout Africa with thousands of troops deployed in what are described as “advise and assist missions” with local forces, and it wages air strikes permitted under an authorization for the use of military force passed by Congress in 2001 to combat al Qaeda and associated forces such as al Shabaab.
The Daily Beast said gunfire caused farmers to scatter from their homes during the August mission in Barire and witnesses described seeing the bodies of neighbors on the ground as American and Somali troops stood around.
An intelligence source used to plan the mission was known to be unreliable and may have directed the joint force to members of a rival clan instead of al Shabaab fighters, according to the report.
The U.S. has said troops in Africa do not take the lead in combat missions in Africa, but the Daily Beast said the majority of bullet casings collected from the Barire farm site were from American and not Somali National Army weapons.
The U.S. special operators instructed “their Somali counterparts to collect weapons that were being stored inside a home — not displaced on the field in the course of the firefight — and placing them beside the bodies of those killed prior to photographing them,” according to the report.
Sources told the Daily Beast U.S. diplomats pressured Somali officials to bury their own investigative findings on the incident.
