Somali Boy Receives Surgery Funded by Guardian Readers After US Drone Strike

On the cart ride to the hospital, Marian Haji Abdi Guled carried a mix of joy and anxiety: the day they had long awaited had finally arrived.

Nearly a year earlier, her seven-year-old son, Abdiqadir Salah, had been severely injured, along with two of his siblings, in an airstrike that the Guardian's investigation determined was carried out by a US drone on the village of Jamaame, Somalia, killing at least 12 civilians, including eight children.

Abdiqadir's small body was pierced by shrapnel, some of which remained lodged in his back. Doctors feared that without surgery to remove it, the boy could lose the ability to walk, but Guled had no money for the operation. For 10 months, the family struggled in Mogadishu as costs rose with no income – unable to afford the surgery, yet unwilling to send the boy back to the village without it.

After the investigation series told the story of Guled and other civilians affected by the attack, a group of Guardian readers from around the world came together to raise funds for Abdiqadir's surgery and recovery.

Within just a few hours, the donations were enough to cover the boy's treatment and rehabilitation costs, as well as all medical and treatment expenses for Guled's two other children, who were less severely injured.

"I am extremely happy to know that Guardian readers have donated enough for my son's surgery. I didn't think there were people like that in the world," Guled said. "Those who contributed to the surgery – I am truly grateful for their support and for standing by my family when we needed it most."

On a Saturday morning in September, Guled waited anxiously as Abdiqadir was finally taken into surgery at Kaafi hospital in Mogadishu.

"Other patients were taken in after my son but came out before him – so I worried something might have gone wrong," she said. "I was so panicked that I knocked on the operating room door and asked whether my son was alive, and the other patients held me back."

Eventually, her son was brought out. Doctors told Guled the operation had been successful but complex. Two pieces of shrapnel from the missile had been removed, while the final fragment was deemed too risky, potentially leading to paralysis, so they concluded it was safer to leave it in place and monitor the boy's condition.

When the Guardian visited Abdiqadir a few weeks later, the boy appeared alert, full of energy and visibly cheerful. "I still have a piece of metal in my body, and if they touch it, I could be paralysed," the seven-year-old said. "But I don't see a problem with that last piece of metal, because I'm not in pain anymore."

The Guardian's investigation into the US airstrikes that injured Abdiqadir raised numerous questions about US military intelligence operations, including how targets are selected and why children were hit while they were outdoors and easily visible. The US side did not respond to any questions about the Jamaame attack.

In the months that followed, US strikes in the area continued: between December 2025 and July 2026, the US carried out at least three airstrikes around Jamaame, according to research by New America, a security think tank that tracks US military operations abroad. Residents said drones continued to fly over the town.

"We cannot return to Jamaame because the thing that injured my children is still there," Guled said. "I left Jamaame with my children injured by drones, and the drones are still [flying]."

With the remaining financial support received from Guardian readers, Guled plans to move with her children to the government-controlled port city of Kismayo, which has never been a target of drone airstrikes, and where Abdiqadir can continue to receive surgery if needed.

Nearly a year after her family was bombed, she still wants the US government to provide answers. "My son has been left with lifelong scars," she said. "I want the US government to be held accountable for what they did to my family and to stop bombing our community."