GARBAHAREY (Halbeeg) – Kenyan troops have been accused by local officials of killing five civilians in two separate incidents in Elwak town near Somalia’s border with Kenya.
The forces have used excessive force against Somali civilians amid efforts to halt cross-border attacks by Al-Shabab fighters.
Elwak Deputy District Commissioner, Sahal Moalim said masked Kenya anti-terror units attacked the town on Tuesday evening.
He accused the Kenyan forces of extrajudicial killings and encroachment on Somalia’s territory.
The official noted that the forces destroyed Hormoud communication mast and killed the two guards of the mast.
“Heavily armed Kenyan troops entered the town, they destroyed the mast and killed the two watchmen,” he said.
In a different incident according to Moalim, the forces opened fire on civilians, killing three people.
“On their way back, they opened fire on local residents. Three people died on the spot. The troops went back to their country. This is not the first times Kenyan troops cross the border and killed civilians,” he said.
He said the government of Somalia had done nothing to deal with the extrajudicial killings carried out by the troops from neighbouring country.
The commissioner called upon Somali leaders to intervene in the situations.
“I urge the leaders of the federal government of Somalia to do something about these killings carried out by Kenyan troops. They have been doing this since 2011,” he said.
Last year, Kenya troops were accused of using excessive force against Somali civilians with impunity.
An internal report by aid agencies working in Somalia published on VOA website said Kenya had carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting pastoral communities in Somalia’s Gedo region since June of 2015.
It says Kenyan Wildlife Service personnel pressed into border patrol duty have targeted people with arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.
According to the report, Kenya’s airstrikes targeted water points with the rationale that those resources are used by al-Shabab militants. But the report says “the distinction between military targets and civilians is skewed in the Somali context.
Kenya sent its troops to Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab fighters after series foreign abductions suspected to have been executed by Al-Shabaab inside Kenya.
The forces were later amalgamated with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Thousands of Kenyan military soldiers, fighting under the auspices of AMISOM are currently in Gedo and Lower Jubba regions.
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