Hiiraan Online
Sunday, February 15, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) -- At least ten people were killed in south-western Somalia, after the Al-Qaeda-linked militants ambushed an African Union forces convoy, prompting a heavy fighting between the two sides in a rural village on Sunday, residents said.
The fighting in Rabdhure district in Bay region started after fighters from Al-Shabab waylaid Ethiopian troops who are parts of the African Union force, resulting in intense gunfight, with nomads caught in the middle of fire that lasted for hours.
Residents in the town reported that Ethiopian troops who suffered causalities from the attack have killed pastoralists in revenge for the attack by militants, killing ten civilians.
There were no immediate details about the exact causalities on both sides.
Rights groups often accuse Ethiopian troops of indiscriminate killings
against civilians in the horn of Africa nation. Ethiopia often denies
the allegations.