Saturday, October 8, 2011

12 Somalis killed in US drone attack

PressTV

At least twelve people have been killed and several others injured in a US drone attack in southern Somalia near the border with Kenya, Press TV reports.


On Saturday, the US military used a remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle in an attack on Afmadow city that left twelve civilians dead and 23 more injured.

Afmadow city is located in the middle of the Juba region, 620 kilometers (385 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

A Somali military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Press TV that the strike sought to target an al-Shabab base in the area, but the casualties were all civilians.

Earlier in the day, 16 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded in another US aerial attack on Afmadow city.

In the wake of the US drone attacks, thousands of local residents are leaving Afmadow city, fleeing for their lives.

Somalia is the sixth country where the United States has used remote-controlled drone aircraft to launch deadly missile strikes.

The US military has also used drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.




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