At least 20 people, including women and children, have been killed and food aid destroyed after militants attacked several vehicles in Somalia’s central Hiiraan region.
The Governor of Hiiraan, Ali Jeyte Osman, said the death toll from Friday’s attack could rise amid reports that up to 27 people had been killed.
“They put a bomb while people were in the car and blew it up,” the region’s governor told the BBC Somali service.
“Some where injured and some ran away when the shooting started. The dead bodies are still being collected, including women and children,” he said.
Mr Osman accused the militants of being at war with the civilian population in the region, accusing them of burning villages and destroying water wells.
Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it was targeting a government-affiliated armed group.
In a statement al-Shabab said the lorries it attacked were carrying food supplies for a group of local fighters who have been backing the government’s offensive against them
Al-Shabab controls much of southern and central Somalia, but has been able to extend its influence into areas controlled by the government based in the capital Mogadishu.
Two weeks ago its fighters stormed a hotel in the capital and killed more than 20 people.
Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed that his government would “leave no stone unturned” in the fight against “terrorism” in the country.
BBC