African Force in Somalia Says Probing Civilian Deaths
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISON) on Wednesday said it is probing the deaths of several civilians, including children, in a village to the west of the capital Mogadishu.
The force says the civilians may have been caught Tuesday in an exchange of fire with Islamist extremists, but witnesses on the ground say they were shot by AMISOM soldiers.
"AMISOM is investigating an incident in which civilians may have been caught up in crossfire as its forces repelled an attack by the Shebab ... near Lego, 120 kilometers (70 miles) west of Mogadishu," the force said in a statement.
"Initial reports indicate some civilians, including children, were killed and others are hospitalized with gunshot wounds," the statement said.
AMISON is made up of troops from several African nations.
A local lawmaker said AMISOM killed at least seven shepherds, among them children, in Lego.
"We don't know why those civilians were indiscriminately shot and killed but we have asked the government to investigate the incident," the lawmaker, Dahir Amin, told Agence France Presse.
"We have collected the dead bodies of seven civilians, three of them children, AMISOM killed them and the reason is as yet unclear," Hussein Ahmed, an elder in Lego village said.
A Somali military official who asked not to be named confirmed the fatalities.
"We got the information that those civilians were killed early in the morning. We don't have details yet but there are also wounded who were taken to Mogadishu hospitals. As far as we are concerned AMISOM carried out security operations around the area where the fatalities occurred," he said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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