PREGNANT WOMAN DIES AS ALSHABAB SHOT KIDS PLAYING FOOTBALL

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Pregnant woman dies as Somali militants fire on children playing football
June 13, 2011 at 4:32 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
Abdi Hajji Hussein – AHN News Correspondent

Mogadishu, Somalia (AHN) – An expectant woman was killed and three other people injured Sunday afternoon as militants loyal to Al Shabaab reportedly fired on a group of children playing football in the northern Mogadishu district of Yaqashid.

Yasin Mohamoud, one of the players who survived the shooting, told All Headline News by phone that the extremists shot them without warning. Before the militants opened fire, he said, they claimed they were fighting the adversaries of Islam and that the children’s activities provided no benefit to the group.

“An eight-year-old boy was among those injured in the al Shabaab shootout, I think he was in critical condition as the bullet hit him in the chest,” Mohamoud explained. “All wounded teens were rushed to hospital nearby for treatment.”

He also noted the pregnant woman was in labor as she was taken to a local hospital.

It is not the first time Somali Islamists have attacked civilians. In mid-September 2010, four persons were killed and more than 12 injured as militants reportedly opened fire in the Haradhere district in Somalia’s Mudug region.

The shootings occurred when a group of people protested at a public square where the militants were beating the village’s teenagers, whom they accused of watching pornographic videos on their mobile phones. Children and pregnant women were among those killed in that incident.

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