Sunday September 18, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - 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 on Sunday.
According to reports, al-Shabab ordered the residents to leave the village before destroying the water well with explosions and setting fire to homes.
The well's destruction comes as Somalia faces a deadly drought that has displaced over a million people.
Over the last two months, local anti-al Shabab militias and the Somali National Army have been fighting al Shabaab in many parts of the Hiiraan region, where the militants are said to have suffered heavy casualties.
At least four people, including traditional elders, were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine on Saturday in the Aqaboy area near the Buq-aqable district in the central Hiiraan region.
The traditional elders killed in the landmine blast were Yusuf Fidow Farah, his son Ibrahim Yusuf Fidow, Mukhtar Haji, and Hassan Hussein Lugayare.
Sources told HOL that the group was summoned to an Al Shabab court in Buq-aqable district and was on their way when killed.Al Shabaab destroyed homes and wells in a similar attack in early August. The Somali government sent funds and equipment to repair the damaged wells to gain local support.