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On January 30, 2023, 50-year-old Mohamed Ahmed Nur left his home in the Somali town of Quracley for a funeral. As he departed, he noticed drones flying overhead but didn’t think much of it, since they had become common in the al-Shabab–controlled area. Hours later, Nur learned that a drone strike had hit his town. When he rushed back, he was met with a horrifying scene: the charred remains of children, including his own sons, scattered beneath a tree.
Nur said seven young people were killed in the strike, five of them minors. Among the dead were his three sons—20-year-old Ahmed, 18-year-old Abdulkadir, and 8-year-old Qays—as well as his 17-year-old nephew and three other children aged 11, 13, and 14. He recalled picking up body parts with the help of neighbors, unable to even prepare his children for burial according to Islamic tradition because their bodies were torn apart.
The strike was carried out by Turkish drones operating in Somalia. According to Somali intelligence officials, Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) supplied Turkey with target information, and Turkey executed the strike. But instead of hitting militants, it claimed the lives of innocent children.
Turkey has been conducting drone operations in Somalia for several years, working alongside NISA and presenting its involvement as part of the fight against al-Shabab. However, civilians have repeatedly borne the brunt of these attacks. Local residents say Turkish airstrikes have killed noncombatants in several incidents, including a 2022 strike in Mubarak town that hit a bus station during a labor dispute, killing nine and injuring 17. Survivors described seeing bodies strewn across the ground after the blast.
Turkey’s military role in Somalia is part of a deeper presence that began in 2011, when the country responded to a famine with humanitarian aid. Over the years, Turkey built schools, hospitals, and roads while also training thousands of Somali soldiers at its large military base in Mogadishu. Turkish companies now manage key Somali infrastructure, including Mogadishu’s airport and seaport, under long-term contracts. Critics argue that these deals lack transparency and that profit-sharing arrangements have been violated, raising questions about sovereignty and accountability.
For Ankara, Somalia is more than a humanitarian project. It has become a critical node in Turkey’s broader geopolitical ambitions in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea. Turkish drones, including Bayraktar and Akinci models, are not only used in Somalia but also exported across Africa to countries in the Sahel, Libya, and Ethiopia. Analysts describe this as “drone diplomacy”—a blend of arms sales, military power, and foreign policy influence.
Yet this influence has come at a steep cost for Somali civilians. In 2024, Amnesty International accused Turkey of possible war crimes after a drone strike on a farming settlement killed 23 civilians, including 14 children. Turkish munitions were found at the scene, but there has been no accountability. Such strikes often happen in remote or contested areas where neither the government nor al-Shabab maintains full control, leaving victims with little chance for justice.
Somalia’s dependence on foreign military support, especially from Turkey, has deepened as its fragile government struggles to contain al-Shabab’s insurgency. While Ankara claims to be supporting stability, ordinary people like Nur and Abukar—the minivan driver wounded in Mubarak—are the ones paying the ultimate price. As long as drone strikes remain central to the war effort, the risk of more civilian deaths will remain high.