Somali elders lament 'slaying of innocent'

[Wisdom_Seeker]

Mogadishu - Somali clan elders and residents of southern Somalia said Thursday that about 100 civilians were killed this week in US and

Ethiopian air strikes on suspected Al-Qaeda targets in the region.

 

There was no way to independently confirm the toll, and it was unclear if the sources were referring to the same areas hit by at least one US air raid on Monday, and others believed to have been launched by Ethiopian helicopters.

 

Sheikh Abdullahi Ali Malabon, an elder in the Afmadow area, one of several said 100 bodies had been counted.

 

"We have sent a team to assess the casualties there and they have confirmed more than 100 people killed," he told AFP by phone from the remote area. "Many others were wounded but we don't have exact number."

 

Closer to the Kenyan border, in between the villages of Afmadow and Dhobley, residents and elders also spoke of at least 100 civilian deaths but stressed they had only yet accounted for 29

bodies, some burned beyond recognition.

 

"I was with a team sent to the bombardment areas near Dhobley to bury the dead, what I have seen was really terrible," said Absuge Mohamed Weli, a Dhobley resident told AFP.

 

"I counted 29 dead people, some of them burned so they could not be identified, and we have buried them," he said. "A lot of people were also wounded."

 

"I have seen more dead bodies in the forest, I recognised some of them and they were local civilians," Weli said. "They were killed while keeping their animals. I have also seen animals, most of them cows, dead in villages."

 

It was not immediately clear if the Dhobley and Afmadow estimates included the same reported deaths.

 

"We estimate about 100 innocent civilians have been killed," said Dhobley elder Moalim Adan Osman. "Some are still missing and I think their bodies are somewhere in the forest."

 

"The airplanes have bombed large areas and the whole zone is jungle and no one can classify what is inside," he said. "They have bombed the nomads in the area indiscriminately." :eek:

 

Source: AFP, Jan 11, 2007

 

 

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This must be what we call justice today. :rolleyes:

[Faarax-Brawn]

Dear. Don’t get worked out about the injustices, I know it’s a depressing mood & one that warrants anger but remember that these innocent people are in a much better place today that their killers. The Men who are responsible for the deaths of these innocent muslims will inshallah face justice one day. Until then, lets just pray for them.

 

They carpet bombed everything moving, I am told their casaulty was 80% ido(Sheep), since they have madax madow and they mistook them for people.

[xiinfaniin]

Brown, these carpet bombardments were intended to prevent/cover Ethiopia’s embarrassment as it met a fiercely stiff resistance from the shabaabs! When everything else failed on them, the occupation forces are trying to punish the local nomads.

 

It will backfire and the resistance will move back (I predict) in to the urban centers again where Ethiopia’s occupation is getting a false impression and is being treated as liberators by the puppet regime it put in place.

[Abwaan]

Press anger at US strikes in Somalia

 

Somalia's President said the US had the right to bomb terror suspects

Newspapers in East Africa and the Middle East strongly condemn US air strikes on Somalia targeting al-Qaeda suspects in the south of the country.

 

Papers in Kenya fear the US intervention could derail efforts by the transitional government to extend its control over Somalia, while a South African daily warns that the solution must come from within Somalia.

 

A UK-based Arabic daily sees the strikes as part of a US strategy to keep the Islamists out of power and end the stability which, it says, they brought to the country.

 

 

KENYA'S STANDARD

 

US officials said they expect more military strikes this week to "wipe out" the terrorist cell in Somalia. This in itself is good news from a Kenyan standpoint, bearing in mind that Nairobi bore the brunt of an unprovoked terror attack in 1998. However, the hurried response to send the deadly, fire-spitting C-130s into Somalia so soon after a collective sigh of relief for the chance of a formal government structure evokes fury at the unilateral action of the global policeman.

 

 

UNATTRIBUTED COMMENTARY IN KENYA'S STANDARD

 

America will never learn and its excuses border on the ridiculous. Uncle Tom had to wait 10 years to go for Osama Bin Laden's disciples? Have the terrorists been waiting for the Yankees? President Abdullahi Yusuf never ceases to amaze. He cheers the Americans on as they terrorise his people and raze his country just as he turned to the Ethiopians to fight the Islamists. Looking for a lame-duck leader? Look no further.

 

 

SOUTH AFRICA'S BUSINESS DAY

 

It is difficult to think of an up side to America's military intervention in Somalia... The Ethiopian-led and US-backed overthrow of the Union of Islamic Courts and its replacement by the transitional government is no guarantee of stability. And the US attacks on sites where fleeing Somali Islamists and al-Qaeda operatives gathered could inflame the situation. Ultimately, the solution to Somalia's problems will have to come from within the country itself.

 

 

NDUNGU WAINAINA IN KENYA'S TIMES

 

The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia on its part should not presume that the current support from the international community will remain forever. [it] should set in motion bold steps to promote political dialogue and reconciliation that would culminate in establishment of a government that enjoys the full support of the Somali people.

 

 

PAN-ARAB AL-ARAB AL-ALAMIYAH

 

Since the Union of Islamic Courts succeeded in removing warlords, bringing about peace and stability and taking control of most part of Somalia, the US found a way to eliminate this youthful force and bring Somalia back to violence.

 

 

EGYPT'S AL-AKHBAR

 

The air strike gives rise to astonishment, mixed with anger and disgust. It also raises many questions. The killing of scores of people under the pretext of hunting down an individual or two cannot be justified irrespective of their position in the al-Qaeda organization. The time has come for the United States to learn its lesson and realise that its real battle is represented in winning hearts and minds.

 

 

EGYPT'S AL-JUMHURIYAH

 

The United States gave itself the right to bombard Somali villages and kill their innocent people. Does it really want any friends?!

 

 

SYRIA'S TISHRIN

 

Ethiopia carried out the mission, "crushed the terrorists" and handed Somalia over to the Americans, the original architects of wars and sponsors of collapsed countries.

 

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.