Thursday September 29, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - At least two people died after drinking poisoned water from a water well in El-Jiqow village, Mahas district, Hiiraan, on Wednesday, residents confirmed.
The victims were identified as Saney Abiikar Adan and Mohamed Uul Nor. At the same time, five others also fell ill from the contaminated water and were treated at the Mahaas district hospital.
The water well in El Jiqow, which Al-Shabaab blew up in mid of September, has been repaired by residents with the federal government's support.
One of the residents accused al Shabab militants of poisoning the water well while the residents were not around the well area.
On 18 September, al Shabab militants burned down several houses and destroyed a water well in the small village of El-Jiqow in the Mahas district of the Hiiraan region.
According to reports, al-Shabab ordered the residents to leave the village before destroying the water well with explosions and setting fire to homes.
Earlier this month, the al Shabab militants killed at least 22 civilians after they attacked a convoy carrying food to Mahas district in Hiiraan. The attack occurred on the road between the region's capital, Beledwayne, and the Mahas district.
Somalia's military says an offensive in the central Hiran region has captured 20 villages occupied by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab since the beginning of the ongoing new offensive against al Shabab.
Al Shabaab regularly destroys homes and wells when pushed out of an area as part of it's scorched earth tactic.