AMISOM troops under the banner of the African Union have been accused of deliberately bombing civilian areas of Mogadishu, including the Bakara market. Scores have been reported killed on October 22, 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
10/22/2009 4:53:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network ) – Maj. Brighye Bahuko, the spokesman of the African Union troops AMISOM on Thursday denied the heavy shelling targeted to Bakara, the biggest market in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
More than 30 people were killed and 70 others injured after the Islamist fighters and AMISOM troops exchanged heavy shelling in more different neighborhoods in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Mr. Bohuko said in an interview with Shabelle radio that they were not involved in the bitter shelling which murdered civilians in Bakara market and several neighborhoods around the market that caused more casualties of deaths. Wounds and loss of property pointed out that the mortar shells were from where he described north of the capital. This is where he said that fighting between Islamists continued.
The spokesman said that they did not hear any sounds of weapons which continued in Mogadishu today reiterating that every body knew that fighting between Islamist fighters continued north of the capital. Pointing out that the shelling had caused casualties in Bakara market saying that they (AMISOM) will have to take the responsibility.
Asked about the heavy weapons coming from the military bases of AMISOM troops in Mogadishu, the AU troops’ spokesman Maj. Brighye Bohuko replied that they knew nothing about it.
Lastly the spokesman replied to accusations of being behind the shelling that targeted other residential areas in Mogadishu including Baraka market ,saying that they were not totally involved and that this was not the first time AMISOM has been blamed.
On the other hand Sheik Muse Abdi Arale, the secretary of the Islamic organization of Hizbul Islam, who is in parts of Hiran region in central Somalia, told Shabelle radio that the African Union troops AMISOM were the masterminds of Thursday’s shelling which killed more civilians in Bakara market and the other neighborhoods in the capital.
Mr. Arale had harshly condemned the AMSIOM troops for annihilating the Somali people in Mogadishu.
The statement of the AMSOM troops’ spokesman maj. Brighye Bohuko comes as residents in the Somali capital Mogadishu confirmed that they could hear the sound of heavy shelling from the bases of the African Union troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
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