Kenyan soldiers entered south-eastern Bardere town, which has been under al-Shabab control since 2008, armed with heavy weapons and supported by fighter jets, residents told the BBC. Two weeks ago, the soldiers killed 2 civilians after unidentified men hurled grenade at a passing AMISOM convoy.
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19th July 2015- A military offensive against Al Shabaab in the Bay and Gedo regions of Somalia, codenamed “Operation Jubba Corridor” is underway with the aim of flushing out the terrorist group from the rural areas.
This is not the first time, the troops have been involved with incidents like this one.
“It was a massacre of innocent people”. “We took the injured on wheelbarrows to the hospital, but we had to send many to Mogadishu because we could not treat them”.
In Merka, about 109 kilometers south of the capital, AU troops killed at least nine people and wounded eight others after opening gunfire on boys playing football in a sports field, an eyewitness told Al Jazeera news agency. Following the events, many locals reportedly fled the city. Past year they were accused by residents and officials of firing on protesters in the town injuring at least six people and damaging dozens of properties. African Union troops denied those accusations.
Resident who sought anonymity also said the soldiers raped two women in the process.
The African Union mission to Somalia, known as AMISOM, is largely made up of troops from Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, and Sierra Leone.
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“Amisom categorically denounces this devious allegation”, the force said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.
