Four dead as Somali soldiers fire on Mogadishu demonstrators

[Coeus]

Soldiers of the Somali transitional federal government opened fire on demonstrators chanting anti-al Shabaab slogans and words of support for the Somali government, killing at least four people and wounding 16 others, witnesses said on Tuesday.
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Organized by the administration of the Benadir region, hundreds of demonstrators were marching in the streets of the resort district of Hamar-weyne at the time of shooting.

Abdinasir ilka-ase, one of the marchers, told All Headline News that demonstrators stampeded and ran in every direction after they came under fire. Some of them fell on the ground because of the shock caused by the shooting, he said.

“I have seen four dead demonstrators lying at the center of a street near Villa Somalia, the presidential palace,” Ilka-ase explained.

Initial reports said that the demonstration was aimed at supporting Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who on Monday welcomed parliament’s decision to extend its own mandate for three years.

“Somali forces shot us without warning, we don’t why they did so,” said another protester, calling for top TFG officials to investigate the civilian casualties.

In an interview with a local radio station, Ahmed Diriye Ali, the spokesman of Hawiye traditional elders, condemned what he called the barbaric act of arbitrary killing committed by Somali government troops against innocent civilians.

For his part, Sharif Hasan Sheikh Adam, the speaker of the parliament, said in a press conference in Mogadishu that he was very sorry for the civilian deaths and injuries, sending condolences for the people whose relatives were killed in the demonstration.

The speaker didn’t talk about the soldiers who shot the civilians.

It is not the first time Somali forces have fired on ordinary Somali people.

On Jan. 31, at least 17 people were killed and more than 81 others injured after Somali government soldiers fired anti-aircraft weapons at a major intersection in the Somali capital.

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