Four US strikes in Yemen may have killed civilians and people believed to be fighting for groups allied to the Saudi-led coalition, which is supported by the US.
A US drone strike reportedly hit a Pakistan Taliban (TTP) facility in Afghanistan’s Kunar province killing the son of the TTP head.
We have still been unable to obtain the monthly strike data from Resolute Support (RS), the Nato mission through which the US conducts the war in Afghanistan.
Three strikes were recorded in Somalia in March.
| Bureau data | Afghanistan | Yemen | Somalia | Pakistan |
| Confirmed US strikes: | 12* | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Total killed: | 77-113 | 5-9 | 14 | 0 |
| Civilians reported killed: | 0-1 | 1-5 | 0 | 0 |
*This is likely to be only a fraction of the actual number of strikes. We have not had figures from RS; therefore these are the strikes we found via open source material. For more information on the strikes in each country, please click here.
Pakistan
There were no strikes reported in Pakistan in March.
To see our Pakistan dataset, click here.
Afghanistan
A US drone strike on March 7 hit a Pakistan Taliban facility in Afghanistan’s Kunar province killing an estimated 21 insurgents, including the son of the TTP head, Pakistan intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.
The son’s death was later confirmed in a TTP statement. It reportedly identified him as 17-year-old Abdullah. The statement said the strike hit a religious school, killing 20 other students and teachers. The students’ ages were not specified.
The Bureau reached out to the US for comment but a Nato spokesperson said he could not confirm or deny the incident, stating he did “not have any information on the operation”.
Strikes on Taliban narcotics production facilities continued in Helmand province. The US began hitting sources of Taliban revenue in Afghanistan following new targeting authorities given last year.
To see our Afghan dataset, click here.
Yemen
Four US strikes reportedly led to the deaths of civilians and people not associated with AQAP or Islamic State, the groups the US targets in Yemen.
On March 5, a 13-year-old boy was killed and his cousin injured when a strike hit the vehicle they were travelling in, the Intercept reported. The cousin is believed to have just returned from fighting the Houthis, a rebel movement at the centre of the war in Yemen.
A second strike took place on March 7, with sources telling the Intercept that it killed a man searching for cell phone coverage on a hill.
Another strike reportedly killed six adult relatives of a local tribal leader on March 9. Four of those were said to have been fighting for military units aligned with the Saudi-led coalition.
The Saudi-led coalition began a bombing campaign against the Houthis in 2015. While the US has not formally backed the coalition, it has provided support.
On March 29, reports surfaced that a strike in Bayda province had hit a vehicle carrying civilians.
The US confirmed its forces carried out strikes in the relevant provinces on all dates aside from March 9. A spokesperson from Central Command has however said they assessed the strikes and deemed the civilian casualty allegations to be non-credible.
To see our Yemen dataset, click here.
Somalia
Three US strikes were recorded in Somalia in March. One of these was however aborted mid-way on March 12, but is still included in US Africa Command’s official strike count.
On March 13, a US strike killed 12 members of al Shabaab and injured 15, according to an Africom spokesperson. Another strike on March 19 allegedly killed two fighters and wounded a further three.
To see our Somalia dataset, click here.
