Five people mediating clashes in Wanlaweyn gunned down in Lafoole

Five people who were reportedly mediating clan clashes in Wanlaweyn district in Lower Shabelle region were shot dead by armed men in Lafoole area on their way to the capital Mogadishu.

Lafoole deputy district commissioner Mukhtar Noor Gesei told Goobjoog News on phone the five were killed after their assailants forced them to alight from a taxi they were travelling in and released the driver before firing at them. Lafoole is barely 15 km north west of Mogadishu.

“A bad incident happened which does not concern our traditional and it happened at Lafoole area particularly Alamada along Hawa Abdi road. These were civilians who took a tax from Wanlaweyn area and when we traced them we understood they were involved as negotiators in Wanlaweyn clan conflict,” said Gesei.

They stopped the car and let the driver to leave before shooting dead the five aged between 30 and 70 years, said Gesei. The official noted they could not establish whether the killers were Al-Shabaab or people involved in the clan conflicts.

Clan clashes broke out last week in Wanlaweyn some 70 kilometres north west of Mogadishu.

Gesei said they were pursuing the taxi driver whom he said went to Mogadishu and hails from Wanlaweyn.