(Bloomberg) -- An autonomous region of Somalia accused U.S. forces of carrying out an air strike in its territory that was based on false information. The U.S. military denied the allegation.
At least 13 soldiers died in the strike at Galkayo, 578 kilometers (360 miles) northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, on Sept. 28, the government of the central Galmudug region said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. Somalia's central government has asked the U.S. to explain the strike, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke's office said in a separate statement.
“The administration of Galmudug State of Somalia is very disappointed that the U.S. Pentagon has used excessive force against Galmudug forces with misinformation from another regional state in Somalia,” according to the Galmudug government's statement, which didn't identify the state it was referring to. Galkayo is divided, with one part governed by Galmudug and the other by neighboring autonomous state of Puntland, and the two sides have frequently clashed over control of the town.
The U.S. military's Africa Command said it carried out a “self-defense strike” against al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants on Sept. 28 and that the attack was coordinated with Somalia's federal government. The strike left nine “enemy fighters” dead, it said.
‘Incorrect Reports'
“We have seen reports alleging non-combatant casualties as a result of this defensive strike,” it said in a statement on the command's website. “We have assessed all credible evidence and determined those reports are incorrect.”
The U.S. has previously carried out drone strikes in Somalia to help the government combat al-Shabaab, which has waged an insurgency in the Horn of Africa nation for the past decade. A U.S. raid in September 2014 killed the group's former leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane. The U.S. declared al-Shabaab a terrorist organization in 2008.
The Sept. 28 attack sparked a demonstration on Thursday by thousands of residents of Galkayo who chanted “We are not terrorists. We are not al-Shabaab.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu at msheikhnor@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn
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