US drones and jets killed at least 150 people in Somalia – the highest death toll from a US strike yet recorded anywhere by the Bureau.
An American airstrike killed 50 al Qaeda fighters in Yemen – a casualty count not seen there since 2009.
Not a single CIA drone strike was reported in Pakistan.
Pakistan
No CIA drone strikes in Pakistan during a month that saw a Taliban suicide bomber kill more than 60 people in a park in Lahore.
Afghanistan
There were only five reported US strikes in Afghanistan in March. Based on past experience, this could be a significant underestimate. In February there were 18 US air strikes reported in Afghanistan.
This month the US Air Force released its aggregated data for February 2016, which showed that both the total number of strikes and the rate of strikes per day increased from the previous month for the second month running. There were 66 sorties with a weapon release in the 29 days of February, up from 51 in January.
The Bureau is collecting data on individual strikes in Afghanistan, summarised above. However not all strikes are reported in open source material. The US Air Force publishes an aggregate summary of strikes in Afghanistan without any casualty information, which we have reproduced below. The figures for March 2016 will be released in the second week of April.
Yemen
The US Department of Defense publicly announced it had carried out an air strike in Yemen, the first time it had officially addressed an individual strike there. US aircraft killed 50 al Qaeda fighters, the Pentagon said. This was the highest death toll in a single strike in Yemen since US cruise missiles killed 55 civilians in December 2009.
At least two more US drone strikes hit Yemen killing eight or nine alleged al Qaeda fighters. Six more drone or air strikes were reported in the month but the Bureau has yet to find conclusive evidence the US was responsible.
Somalia
US drones and jets killed 150 to 200 people in an attack on an al Shabaab training camp. This is the highest death toll ever recorded by the Bureau in a single strike in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen or Somalia.
Published on https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com