Residents and a state news agency said on Saturday that Al Shabaab militants killed at least 18 civilians and destroyed trucks carrying relief food in an overnight attack in Somalia’s central region.
The Islamist group launched the attack in the Hiran area of Hirshabelle, a semi-autonomous state in central Somalia. According to residents, the trucks were transporting food supplies from Baladweyne to Mahas.
“Al Shabaab killed 18 civilians and burned…several relief food trucks on their way to Mahas town last night,” Farah Aden, a local elder, told Reuters by phone.
According to the state news agency Sonna, al Shabaab fighters burned trucks carrying relief food to Mahas and “killed the majority of the people on board the vehicles.”
For more than a decade, the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group has fought Somalia’s central government. It wishes to impose its own rules based on a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
The group frequently attacks military and civilian targets with bombs, gun assaults, and other means.
More than 20 people were killed last month when al Shabaab fighters stormed the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, sparking a 30-hour battle as government troops sought to end the siege and free hostages.
According to Aden, armed residents chased the insurgents out of the area last week, but the government did not send troops to prevent the fighters from returning.
“Al Shabaab is doing all these things in order to make us surrender. But as long as there is soul in us, we will never surrender to al Shabaab. Government forces have not yet arrived on the scene “Aden stated.
