MOGADISHU: Gunmen in Somalia opened fire on Monday on a team of roadside workers, killing eight and wounding several others, witnesses said.
The workers, who included both men and women, were clearing scrubland alongside a road in the Hawa-Abdi area, some 18 km north outside the capital Mogadishu.
“Several gunmen attacked innocent civilians, who were clearing bushes along the road,” said Mohamed Adan, a local security official, saying eight people had been killed.
Witnesses confirmed the incident, adding that several others were wounded by the gunfire.
“It was a horrible attack,” said Fadumo Kulow, who passed by the site of the killing soon after. “Eight people were killed, and six others were wounded.”
Ahmed Moalim, another witness, said the wounded were rushed to a hospital in Mogadishu.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, nor was it immediately clear why the workers were attacked.
Somalia’s Al-Shabab insurgents have carried out a string of attacks against those supporting the government.
Separately, the US military said on Sunday it has killed two Al-Shabab extremists in four airstrikes in Somalia.
A US Africa command statement said the attacks eliminated checkpoints used by Al-Shabab to collect taxes to fund their violent campaign in Somalia.
The statement said two airstrikes on Saturday hit the Kunyow Barrow area, about 250 km southwest of Mogadishu.
Another strike was in the Awdeegle area, about 50 km west of Mogadishu and a fourth was near Janaale, about 75 km southwest of Mogadishu.
The statement said no civilians were killed in the attacks.
With these four airstrikes, the US military has carried out at least 16 such airstrikes this year in Somalia against Al-Shabab, the deadliest extremist group in Africa.
