Jessica Purkiss

Jessica Purkiss is a reporter on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's Covert Drone War team. Before joining the Bureau she was a staff writer and editor for Middle East Monitor. She has also reported from Palestine. Jessica has an MA from Kingston University in human rights and genocide.

15 Civilians Killed In Single US Airstrike Have Been Identified

The rate at which civilians are being killed by American airstrikes in Afghanistan is now higher than it was in 2014 when the US was engaged in active combat operations.

Jessica Purkiss
Ruhullah Khapalwak
By Jessica Purkiss
And Ruhullah Khapalwak
Photo of Hellfire missiles being loaded onto a US military Reaper drone in Afghanistan by Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson/U.S. Air Force

The Bureau has been able to identify 15 civilians killed in a single US drone strike in Afghanistan last month – the biggest loss of civilian life in one strike since the attack on the Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital (MSF) last October. The US claimed it had conducted a “counter-terrorism” strike against Islamic State (IS) fighters when it hit

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US Accused Of Killing 22 Somali Soldiers And Civilians

Somalia’s government has taken an unusual step of asking the US to explain what happened during the attack.

Jessica Purkiss
By Jessica Purkiss
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a small U.S.-made drone that the Ugandan military uses in Somalia to fight al-Qaida linked militants, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, during a demonstration and briefing at Kasenyi Military Base in Kampala, Uganda.

Somali officials have claimed that the US killed 22 local soldiers and civilians in a drone strike that hit the north-central city of Galkayo late last month. The US has confirmed it conducted a strike in the area on the same date, but claims all those killed were members of the Islamist militant group al Shabaab.p According to a press

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