Hiiraan Online
Friday August 25, 2017
Several bodies on display in Mogadishu during a press conference in Mogadishu on Friday, August 25, 2017. Residents say the victims were innocent farmers while the government insists they were Al-Shabaab militants.
Mogadishu (HOL) - Close to a dozen people, including children are reported killed during security operations near Bariire, Lower Shabelle on Friday as residents and authorities dispute the identity of those killed.
Residents told Hiiraan Online that Somali National Army soldiers accompanied by armed white men - presumed to be Americans flew into Bariire Friday morning with helicopters and attacked a farmhouse.
The assault, residents say led to the death of innocent farmers. They immediately pointed the finger at US security forces who have been deployed in Somalia since April at the request of the federal government to assist in the fight against Al-Shabaab.
The Deputy Governor of Lower Shabelle, Ali Nur Mohamed, told reporters in Mogadishu that Bancroft, a D.C - based private military company, was responsible for the death of the civilians, calling it a “real genocide”. The bloodied bodies of those killed were on full display in Mogadishu during the press conference.
"These local farmers were attacked by foreign troops while looking after their crops," the deputy governor told reporters. "The troops could have arrested them because they were unarmed but instead shot them one by one mercilessly."
However, after local media began circulating reports that US soldiers were responsible for the attack, US Africa Command responded through their twitter that "The U.S. has not conducted any strikes in the last 24 hours.”
The operative word in the tweet may have been 'strike' because U.S. Africa Command confirmed that they were supporting Somali National Army troops operating in the area without giving any details. The incident also appears to have been a ground assault and not an airstrike.
The Somali Government issued a statement Friday evening refuting claims of residents saying that those killed were “Al-Shabaab terrorists.”
The statement quotes SNA General Sheegow of the 20th Brigade who says that the farm was occupied by Al-Shabaab militants who began firing at SNA soldiers.
“The SNA carried out an operation this morning against a farm in Bariire with known al-Shabaab presence. Al-Shabaab started shooting at SNA forces after our soldiers entered the farm. The individuals shooting at the SNA soldiers were al-Shabaab fighters; they were not farmers. We talked to the farmers in the area and instructed them to put their weapons in their homes to avoid confusion.”
The Ministry of Information statement does not elaborate on who the foreign troops with the SNA soldiers were, describing them simply as “international partners”.
In April of this year, President Donald Trump signed off on expanded military operations against Al-Shabab. By establishing the zone south of Mogadishu as an “area of active hostility”, the US military is now able to pursue more aggressive airstrikes against the militant insurgency group.
Al-Shabaab has waged a deadly holy war against Somalia's internationally backed federal government since being ousted from the capital in 2011.
