19 civilians have been killed in an attack by the armed group al-Shabaab in central Somalia. During this time they also destroyed the truck loaded with food products. The armed group carried out the attack on Friday night (September 2) in the Hiran area of the country's semi-autonomous state of Hirshabal. State officials confirmed this information. This information came out in the report of Qatar-based media Al-Jazeera on Saturday.
Residents of the area said on Saturday that some trucks loaded with food products going from Baladwen town to Mahas were attacked. Locals also said that terrorists killed innocent civilians indiscriminately the previous night. They do not know how many people have been killed. A person told the media that the bodies of 19 people have been recovered. Among the dead are women and children.
The governor of the Hiran region, Ali Zeiti, said the bodies were still being found. Among them are children and women. This number can exceed 20.
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Al-Shabaab fighters set the trucks on fire and killed most of the civilians inside the vehicles, state news agency Sonar reported.
Al-Shabaab later said in a statement that its attack targeted fighters from a local faction that had recently aided government forces. They also said that 20 people were killed and 9 vehicles were destroyed by the group's troops and supplies.
Al-Shabaab, a Middle East-based militant group linked to al-Qaeda, has been fighting Somalia's central government for more than a decade. They want to establish a strict Islamic Sharia-based state in this African country. This militant group has been regularly carrying out bomb and gun attacks on Somalia's military and various civilian installations.
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Last month, al-Shabaab attacked a hotel in the capital Mogadishu for more than 30 hours. 20 people were killed and more than 100 people were injured in that attack. After a 30-hour battle, government forces regained control of the hotel and freed the hostages.