Probe killings reports, Kenya told
A human rights organisation on Thursday asked the government to investigate reports that 11 civilians were killed during air raids by Kenyan troops on Hosingow Village in Somalia.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement that the government should launch impartial investigations into the alleged killings during an air raid on Al-Shabaab camps near the Kenya border.
“A prompt and impartial investigation is needed into what happened in Hosingow Village,” a senior Africa researcher at HRW, Mr Ben Rawlence, said.
Mr Rawlence asked the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Al-Shabaab fighters to minimise harm to civilians.
On Wednesday, KDF spokesman, Maj Emmanuel Chirchir, said 17 Al-Shabaab militants were killed in a joint operation by Kenyan forces and TFG soldiers in Hosingo near Kismayu.
Maj Chirchir said a senior Al-Shabaab commander and an administrator were killed in the two air raids.
On Thursday, Mr Rawlence said two Hosingow residents told HRW by phone that two military planes attacked the village on the afternoon of December 20.
“The first dropped a bomb on makeshift huts, one of which was a school, they said, killing seven children and one woman. The second strafed the village with a machine gun, killing one woman and at least two men, all civilians.
“The witnesses said 24 civilians were wounded in the attack and had to be evacuated as there are no medical facilities in Hosingow,” the HRW statement said.
Hosingow is in a territory controlled by Al-Shabaab militants, who are fighting the TFG.
The human rights group said it was unable to determine whether Al-Shabaab militants were present in the town at the time of the attack.
At the same time, Defence Minister Yusuf Haji and Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim said they would not be intimidated by Al-Shabaab’s threats.
“They can never intimidate us from doing what we are supposed to do in defending the country,” Mr Haji said, adding, Kenya would not relent in its pursuit of Al-Shabaab militants.
“We shall fight Al-Shabaab day and night until we liberate Somalia,” he stated.
Mr Maalim said he would not be frightened by death threats.
“That is not anything that is going to scare us. We believe in our destiny; we shall all die one day,” the Deputy Speaker said.
MPs asked for tightening of security at Parliament following the fresh threats of Al-Shabaab attack.
Gichugu MP Martha Karua said lax security at Parliament Buildings and its precincts was worrying.
