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In the wake of a devastating US airstrike in Somalia, a seven-year-old boy named Abdiqadir Salah is fighting for his future. Struck by shrapnel during a bombing that resulted in the deaths of at least twelve civilians, including eight children, Abdiqadir now requires an urgent operation costing £750 to prevent permanent disability. His mother, Marian Haji Abdi Guled, is left feeling helpless and desperate, as the family grapples with both the trauma of the incident and the prohibitive costs of medical treatment.
The Incident and Its Aftermath
On 15 November 2025, Abdiqadir was outside his home in Jamaame when the airstrike occurred. Witnesses report hearing drones overhead just before the attack, which left three of Guled’s children injured. “There was no warning before the strikes,” she recounted. “We could hear the drones hovering above town. It was very loud.” In the chaos that followed, Guled struggled to tend to her wounded children amidst a barrage of missiles.
Abdiqadir sustained serious injuries, with shrapnel lodged in his back and thigh. His older brother, Mohamed, 16, also suffered injuries, while his sister, Sumaya, 14, had metal fragments removed from her head. The family’s ordeal did not end with the airstrike; in the days following the attack, Guled was forced to flee with her children into the countryside to escape further danger.
After a perilous journey of 40 miles to Jilib, where the local hospital could not provide assistance, Guled made the difficult decision to travel to Mogadishu. The journey was fraught with hardship, as she and her children went without food, all the while consumed by the urgency of saving Abdiqadir.
The Medical Emergency
Doctors at Kaafi hospital in Mogadishu have assessed Abdiqadir’s condition and confirmed that immediate surgery is necessary to remove the shrapnel, which poses a significant risk to his ability to walk. “If the shrapnel isn’t removed from his body,” Guled was told, “it could affect his ability to continue walking.” However, the financial burden weighs heavily on her, as the family struggles to cover both the cost of the operation and the expenses of living in the capital, which include a monthly rental of nearly £190.
“I don’t know where the money for the operation will come from,” Guled lamented. “I left the children’s father back at the farm to protect our crops from wild animals, and he doesn’t have the funds to reach Mogadishu either.” The family is caught in a cycle of desperation, exacerbated by the lack of support from the US government, which has not provided compensation to any Somali civilians affected by its airstrikes.
Accountability and the Call for Action
As the story of Abdiqadir and his family unfolds, critical questions arise about the conduct of US military operations in Somalia. The airstrike that injured Abdiqadir is reported to be one
