MOGADISHU(Halbeeg-News)- Authorities in Southwest state on Friday accused of Al-Shabaab fighters of abducting civilians in Southern Somalia.
In a statement, the deputy minister of security in Southwest state, Abdul Razaq Ali Adam, said the group had taken about 100 civilians as hostages in Bakool region.
He pointed out that most of the abducted are shepherds who refused to pay what the movement calls “Zakat”.
The minister said that the movement accuses some of the kidnapped of spying for the Somali government, and others of voting for the current Somali parliamentarians.
He vowed that security and military forces would begin operations to free the kidnapped.
The move comes a week barely after Al-Shabaab allegedly kidnapped 60 children from 12 to 14 year old were kidnapped in the southwestern town of Tiyeglow in Somalia.
According to locals, the group threatened local people to hand over their children, indoctrinate them and become part of the group.
Al Shabab ordered elders and teachers in Islamic religious schools and communities in rural areas to hand over children or face the consequences.
Human Rights organisations have denounced on several occasions the aggressive recruitment campaign of minors by the organisation which began in 2017.
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