Somalia: AU troops kill 10 civilians near Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia - African Union troops in Somalia were reported to have killed at least ten civilians, including a local radio journalist near Mogadishu on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.

Warsame Osman, a resident in Lafole vicinity confirmed to GO that AU troops have deliberately killed the civilians after their convoy came under IED blast at Arbiska locality on Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor.

Osman said the soldiers under AMISOM - African Union Mission in Somalia fired a bazooka at a school in the area, where they had been targeted with landmine explosion, killing 10 people, including students.

A young Somali journalist, Jacfar Ali Da'ad who works for the independent Dayah FM radio in Afgoye district has been critically wounded in the AMISOM fire and taken to a hospital in Mogadishu.

Da'ad was pronounced dead upon arrival at Medina hospital in the capital after being hit by a bullet in the head, according to Mohamed Ali Zaad, the deputy director of the station he worked for.

Warsame said the incident came after heavily armed Al Shabaab militants launched an ambush against AMISOM soldiers conducting a security patrol on the main highway linking Arbiska to Lafole village.

"The African Union forces carrying out a security patrol came under roadside explosion followed by a gun attack by Al Shabaab fighters, leading to an exchange fire between the two sides," he added.

After the blast, AMISOM troops opened fire in all directions and shot randomly at pedestrians.

Lt Colonel Wilson Rono, the AMISOM Spokesperson confirmed that one AU soldier was killed and another sustained injuries in the ambush near the capital. He did not comment on civilian casualties.

Somali Federal government is yet to release its own statement concerning the tragic incident, which was the latest in a string of civilian killings by the UN-mandated African Union peacekeepers operating the horn of Africa country.

GAROWE ONLINE