Turjumaad ayaa la diyaarinayaa

GAROWE (Somaliguardian) – An airstrike by a foreign military partner killed a pregnant woman and her three daughters last Thursday near Somalia’s northeastern town of Qandala, according to a Somali diplomat, amid a sharp rise in civilian casualties from intensifying drone operations in the country.

The incident in the semi-autonomous Puntland region has triggered legal threats from the diplomat and highlights the growing human toll of a counter-insurgency campaign supported by the United States, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey, which journalists say has killed more than 100 civilians this year.

Puntland authorities do not possess independent air assets or drones, focusing scrutiny on international partners operating in the mountainous Bari region where militants maintain hideouts.

Somalia’s deputy ambassador to Tanzania, Ashkir Nur, condemned the strike, stating it hit pastoralist families inside an area designated by the government as a safe zone.