An airstrike carried out by the African Union forces in the country’s South-west killed at least…
An airstrike carried out by the African Union forces in the country’s South-west killed at least 11 civilians, mostly women and children and wounded dozens more, residents and officials said Saturday.
The airstrikes, which are thought to be carried out by helicopters owned by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) pounded vehicles thought to be a convoy of al-Shabaab militants.
It took place in a village close to Burhakaba town, which is some 240-KM from Mogadishu in the South-west Bay region.
‘’At the time of the airstrikes, al-Shabaab terrorists were checking vehicles travelling along the highway and the planes attacked them…. They never knew about the civilians,’’ insisted an official from the Burhakaba town administration.
According to local elders, the civilians were escaping from the anti-al Shabaab offensive launched by the African Union forces accompanied by the Somali military last week in the Bay and Bakool regions.
Somalia’s Federal government has not spoken of the latest airstrikes.
Last week, African Union forces in the port town of Merca killed at least 20 civilians in a retaliation attack. AMISOM later on went to say that it had only killed six al-Shabaab fighters including a commander of the group.
Kenyan warplanes have also similarly killed dozens of civilians in Southern Somalia in airborne attacks aimed at the al-Qaeda-linked extremists.
Al-Shabaab were pushed out from their last major strongholds in the country last week by the allied forces.
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