African Union peacekeepers opened fire Monday on civilian vehicles and fatally shot 18 people after an AU vehicle was hit by a land mine, officials and a witness said.The peacekeepers fired at three minibus taxis carrying civilians after the land mine damaged an AU vehicle in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, said the city's deputy mayor, Abdifitah Ibrahim Shawey.
| "A land mine hit one of our vehicles and then we came under small arms fire." |
The incident happened on a road in southern Mogadishu linking the presidential palace and the airport. Both are among the government installations the AU force guards as part of its mandate in Mogadishu. "There was a huge explosion, which blew up one of the Ugandan military vehicles, lifting it off the road," said Mohamud Abdisamad, a resident of the Waberi district where the violence happened. "Afterwards, Ugandan soldiers started shooting at people in the three buses wildly."
Ali Muse, one of the coordinators of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said the service transported 18 dead and 11 people wounded from the scene of the violence. Muse said the dead and wounded had gunshot wounds.
A senior police officer, Gen. Yusuf Hussein Dumal, accused the AU peacekeepers of intentionally shooting the civilians. "It is unfortunate for both the Ugandan government and for the Somalis as well. What happened here was a clear massacre against civilians," Dumal said. "This is not peacekeeping."