Nine Street Cleaners Killed Near Somalia Capital

At least nine people were shot dead and unknown number of others injured after gunmen opened fire on street cleaners on the outskirt of Somalian capital, Mogadishu on Monday.

Two women were also kidnapped by the attackers suspected to be al-Shabaab militant group members.

Eyewitnesses said armed men on a small vehicle opened fire on the street cleaners who were mostly women from local neighborhoods in Hawo Abdi location on the main Afgoye-Mogadishu corridor.

“I saw the armed men shooting the street cleaners who were on the roadside. Six women and three men died on the spot,” Hasan Bule, a street vendor told CBA TV.

A second witnesses, Mohamed Yare, said he heard gun shots in the area and upon checking what he saw nine dead bodies in a pool of blood.

“The nine had gunshots. All died when I reached the place. The ambulance did not come immediately,” he told CBA TV.

Mohamed Ibrahim Barre, governor of Lower Shabelle, told journalists that al-Shabaab militants shot the nine street cleaners dead.

“They killed nine street cleaners. They were working on voluntary basis. Most of them were from the internal displaced families,” he said.

Authorities in the area say the security forces have launched investigations and are also pursuing the attackers.

Residents who did not want to be named have reported that the attackers sped with their car toward Afgoye following the shooting.

The incident came amid government forces intensified operations on al-Shabab militants in southern Somalia.

On Saturday, the al-Qaida linked group al-Shabab shot dead a Somali lawmaker Osman Elmi Boqore in Mogadishu’s Karan district after gunmen blocked Boqorre’s car, spraying him with bullets.