MARKA, Somalia Sep 30 (Garowe Online) - Somali soldiers fired into a crowd of refugees seeking food aid in Afgoye, a town 30km south of the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said Sunday.

It was not clear why the soldiers fired on the refugees. But witnesses said tens of people rushed towards trucks delivering food aid at a makeshift refugee camp in Afgoye.

"The troops were driving by [on a side road] but then they turned towards the food delivery place," said one witness who declined to give his name. He described the sad scene where people fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan got bullets instead of food.

Mohamud "Qoley" Dahir, aid committee chairman for Lower Shabelle region, confirmed that account when he said the soldiers were not part of the food aid security team.

The soldiers belong to the 9th Brigade, which locals refer to as the "Troublemakers Brigade" based in Lower Shabelle.

Similar incidents caused by the irresponsible use of military force have led to other civilians deaths since the beginning of the year. Thousands have fled the violence in Mogadishu and now reside in camps in the outskirts of the capital.

Assassination attempt?

The governor of Lower Shabelle region, Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, said reports that armed groups deliberately attacked his home and tried to kill him were false.

Governor Nur said the attack on his home overnight Saturday did not hurt anyone.

His guards returned fire when unidentified gunmen attacked his house in the provincial capital Marka in the middle of the night.

Policemen on patrol got suspicious of the armed men guarding the house and opened fire, the governor of Lower Shabelle argued.

But local journalists and other sources in Marka questioned Governor Nur's explanation and wondered how local police can be unaware of where the governor lives.

The security situation has been increasingly deteriorating in Lower Shabelle region where two police officials were killed in the past month alone.

Source: Garowe Online