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Sunday, June 14, 2009
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Three Somali soldiers and a civilian were shot dead on Sunday when a argument between government troops ended in violent clashes, a security forces official said.
The soldiers, who were guarding a roadblock in the capital Mogadishu, got into a row over money paid to them by drivers of vehicles that passed through.
Payment from an aid convoy was a particular point of conflict, security forces official Abdulahi Hersi told AFP.
The argument rapidly spiralled out of control and the soldiers began fighting with machine guns and rocket launchers.
"There was fighting between the government troops over a humanitarian convoy carrying supplies for displaced families," Hersi said, adding that he believed the dispute was over some expenses taken from the World Food Programme convoy.
"Three soldiers have died and another was wounded during the clashes," he added.
A civilian was also killed after getting caught in the crossfire in front of his house, according to witness Feysal Abdilahi.
Somalia has been in the grip of civil war since the overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Source: AFP, June 14, 2009