- MOGADISHU: An unidentified fighter jet-bombed the outskirts of a Somali rebel-controlled village in the south of the Horn of Africa country on Tuesday, residents and a commander from the Al-Shabab militant group said.
“A warplane struck the village of Yaqle. We don’t know if there were any Al-Shabab casualties, but the body of an elderly nomadic woman lay on the ground, (split) into pieces,” Amina Ali, a nearby resident who rushed to the blast site, told Reuters. Local people said the village in the Gedo region, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia, was a known rebel haunt.
Neighboring Kenya sent hundreds of troops into southern Somalia more than five weeks ago to crush the insurgents it blames for a series of kidnappings on its soil and regular cross-border attacks. Its air force has launched a wave of air strikes on what it says are rebel targets.
Al-Shabab commander Sheikh Said Warsan told Reuters there were no rebels in the strike zone at the time of the bombardment but acknowledged they were stationed nearby. A Kenyan military spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
