#AlShabaab militants have killed at least 18 civilians and destroyed trucks laden with relief food in an attack in #Somalia’s central region, residents and a state news agency say.https://t.co/m3oBCEn3im
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 3, 2022
Al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...Death Eaters killed at least 18 civilians and destroyed trucks laden with relief food in an overnight attack in Somalia’s central region, residents and a state news agency said on Saturday.
The murderous Moslem group launched the attack in the Hiran area in the semi-autonomous state of Hirshabelle in central Somalia. The trucks were transporting food supplies from Baladweyne city to Mahas town, residents said.
"Al-Shabaab killed 18 civilians and burnt... several trucks of relief food heading to Mahas town last night," Farah Aden, a local elder told Rooters by phone.
State news agency Sonna reported that al-Shabaab fighters had burnt trucks carrying relief food to Mahas and "killed most of the people on board the vehicles."
| Garowe adds: |
The five were rushing to pick up some of the victims of the attack. The death toll becomes now 22 people.
State media reported that the attack happened in the interior villages within the Hiraan region where the Somali National Army and allies have been executing operations against the militants, who control huge swathes of rural central and southern Somalia.
During the attack, witnesses said, locals who got wind tried to rescue but were in return hit by landmines, an indication that the militants were determined to make the attack successful. Due to limited public transport in the region, locals usually prefer food aid trucks which are at times not accompanied by security personnel.
Death toll from Al-Shabaab attack in Somalia rises to 20
[ShabelleMedia] Al-Shabab killed at least 20 people and burned seven vehicles that were transporting food relief in the central Hiran region of Somalia on Saturday morning.
Four trucks carrying goods and three passenger minibuses were set on fire near the remote town of Mahas.
“Passengers were killed, wounded or just narrowly escaped on foot,” the region’s former governor Abdifitah Hassan Afrah told the dpa news agency. “Families were looking for their loved ones this morning.”
The convoy was being reportedly escorted by Somali authorities and African Union peacekeeping troops at the time.
Al-Shabaab claims it killed locally mobilized Ma’wisley militia members
[ShabelleMedia] Al-Shabab confirmed the attack in the Hiran region and claimed to have killed 20 locally mobilized Ma’wisley militia members.
The Somali government condemned the “barbaric” attack and reiterated its support for local mobilization against the group that holds significant parts of central and southern Somalia.
Somali state media and residents say al-Shabab killed over 20 people and burned seven vehicles transporting food in the Hiran region Saturday morning.
Residents said the attack was in retaliation for a local mobilization against the al-Qaida-affiliated group.
The attack came a day after government forces destroyed landmines that al-Shabab had planted on the busy road connecting Beletweyne and Mataban with the intent to target travelers.