MOGADISHU, Somalia — September 1, 2026 — Ugandan troops reportedly shelled a village near Jannaale in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region early Tuesday, killing a boy and injuring four other civilians, according to local sources. The bombardment also reportedly damaged a community water tank and residential property.

The shelling struck Dag-wariiri village at dawn. A woman and three boys were injured, the sources said. Their ages, the severity of their injuries and where they were receiving treatment were not immediately established.

Local accounts said shells damaged a house and a vehicle, alongside the water tank used by residents. Livestock were also reportedly killed, although no figure or assessment of the financial losses was available.

The casualty figures and the attribution of the shelling to Ugandan forces could not be independently verified. It remained unclear what prompted the reported bombardment or whether fighting had taken place nearby.

Details of the shelling remain unclear

The available accounts did not identify the military unit allegedly responsible, the position from which the shells were fired or the number of rounds that struck the village.

No statement addressing the incident from Ugandan forces or Somali authorities was available in the material reviewed for this report. An official account of the circumstances and an independently confirmed casualty assessment remained outstanding.

The reported damage extended beyond homes and personal possessions to infrastructure used by the wider community. However, it was not established whether the damaged water tank remained operational or whether residents had access to another supply.

Previous civilian killings in Lower Shabelle

Ugandan troops have previously faced investigations and prosecutions over civilian deaths in the same region.

On August 10, 2021, seven civilians were killed by Ugandan soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, in Golweyn. An inquiry concluded that the soldiers involved had breached the mission’s rules of engagement. AMISOM subsequently acknowledged responsibility for the unlawful killings.

In November 2021, a Ugandan military court sitting in Mogadishu convicted five soldiers over the killings. Two received death sentences, while three were sentenced to 39 years in prison, according to an AMISOM statement.

Those judgments were later changed on appeal. In October 2022, Uganda’s military appeals court replaced the two death sentences with 20-year prison terms and reduced two other soldiers’ sentences to 16 years. It overturned the fifth soldier’s murder conviction,

An earlier incident occurred in Marka, also in Lower Shabelle, on July 31, 2015. AMISOM acknowledged that seven civilians had died in an incident involving its troops and issued an apology. Three personnel were indicted, according to the mission’s statement reproduced by the International Committee of the Red Cross.