AMISOM troops kill 16 civilians in Marka, sources

At least 16 civilians have been killed and more than five others injured in Marka town after Burundian soldiers working under African peace-keeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) shot indiscriminately at residents, health workers say.

Most of those killed are said to be farmers who were killed on their way to farms but others were killed in their homes, sources say. Sheikh Abdullahi Moalim Ali, the director of Marka hospital, told Goobjoog News the hospital had received two bodies and seven injured people.

“Seven people were brought to our hospital among them six men and a woman. We also recorded two deaths,” said Ali. He however said they got information that up to 16 people may have been killed though this could not be verified.

Meanwhile Somali clerics and  civil society members have condemned the incident as atrocious and cost deaths of innocent people. Chairman of Somali Clerics Association, Sheikh Bashiir Salad condemned the incident as unfortunate and uncalled for.

“We condemn what happened today in Marka in the strongest terms possible. We are concerned that AMISOM seems not to value the lives of our people,” lamented Salad. He called upon Somali government and human right organizations to take action and investigate the incident..

Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa of Somali Non State Actors (SOSCENSA) also condemned the incident terming it extrajudicial killings by AMISOM. “The case of killing citizens has now become recurrent. We urge AMISOM officials and Somali government to set a committee with included civil society to investigate this case,” he emphasized.

The killing of Marka residents by AMISOM soldiers has increased over the last two months. Earlier this month two people were killed and two others injured by AU soldiers after remote control bomb targeted an AMISOM convoy passing through one of the suburbs of Marka, a coastal town situated 90km southwest of Mogadishu.