Guardian readers fund life-changing surgery for Somali boy injured in US airstrike

Abdiqadir Salah e sua mãe, Marian Haji Abdi Guled. “Eu não sabia que existiam pessoas assim”, ela diz sobre as pessoas que arrecadaram o dinheiro para a cirurgia do filho.

Photograph: Mohamed GabobeView image in fullscreenAbdiqadir Salah and his mother, Marian Haji Abdi Guled. ‘I didn’t know people like this existed,’ she says of the people who raised the money for her son’s surgery.

About this contentMohamed Gabobe in MogadishuMon 5 Oct 2026 08. 00 EDTLast modified on Mon 5 Oct 2026 09. 28 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleOn the rickshaw ride to the hospital, Marian Haji Abdi Guled felt a mixture of joy and apprehension: the day they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Almost a year earlier, her then seven-year-old son, Abdiqadir Salah, had been seriously injured, alongside his two siblings, in what a Guardian investigation found was a US drone strike on the village of Jamaame in Somalia that killed at least 12 civilians, including eight children.

O pequeno corpo de Abdiqadir havia sido impalado por estilhaços no ataque, e vários fragmentos permaneceram incrustados em sua coluna.

Doctors feared that without an operation to remove them, the boy would lose his ability to walk, but Guled had no money for an operation. For 10 months, the family had languished in Mogadishu with growing expenses and no income – unable to afford surgery, but unwilling to let the boy return to the village without it.

After the investigation, which told the story of Guled and other civilians affected by the attack, a group of Guardian readers from across the globe fundraised for Abdiqadir’s surgery and recovery.

Em poucas horas, arrecadou‑se dinheiro suficiente para cobrir o tratamento e a reabilitação dele, bem como quaisquer despesas médicas e tratamento para os outros dois filhos dela, que sofreram lesões menos extensas.

Na manhã de sábado de setembro, Guled esperava ansiosamente enquanto Abdiqadir era finalmente levado para cirurgia no hospital Kaafi em Mogadíscio.

Finally, her son emerged. Doctors told Guled the surgery had been successful, but complex. While the first two pieces of shrapnel from the missile had been successfully removed, taking out the final piece was considered too risky, possibly resulting in paralysis, so they concluded that it was safer to leave it and monitor his condition.

When the Guardian visited Abdiqadir a few weeks later, he appeared bright, energised and visibly happy. “I have one piece of metal still in me, and if they touch it, I might become paralysed,” the seven-year-old said.

[Mas] Eu não tenho nenhum problema com a última peça de metal em meu corpo, porque eu não sinto mais dor.

View image in fullscreenDoctors took out two pieces of shrapnel from Abdiqadir Salah’s back but could not remove a third. Photograph: Mohamed GabobeThe Guardian investigation into the US airstrikes that injured Abduqadir raised myriad questions about US military intelligence, such as how the targets were selected and why children were hit while they were clearly visible and out in the open.

Os EUA não responderam a nenhuma pergunta sobre o ataque em Jamaame.

In the months since then, US attacks on the area have continued: from December 2025 to July 2026, it carried out at least three airstrikes around Jamaame, according to research by New America, a security thinktank that documents US military operations abroad.

Residents say drones continue to fly above the town.

Com o apoio financeiro restante que recebeu dos leitores do Guardian, Guled planeja se mudar com seus filhos para a cidade portuária controlada pelo governo de Kismayo, que não foi alvo de ataques de drones, e onde Abdiqadir pode receber cirurgias adicionais se necessário.

She still wants answers from the US government, nearly a year after they were bombed. “My son has been left scarred for life,” she said.