Somali gunmen kill six Syrian and local doctors

MOGADISHU

Fighters in Somalia shot dead three Syrian doctors and their three Somali colleagues on Wednesday as they travelled to a hospital outside the capital Mogadishu.

Their bullet-riddled bodies were carried into Mogadishu’s Medina hospital after the attack on road leading from the capital to Afgoye, a town some 30 kilometres from the capital.

The attack took place at Siinka Dheer area, south-west of the Somali capital.

Doctors at the hospital said the foreigners killed were Syrians.

However, a senior Al-Shabaab official said they did not carry out the attack, although their fighters have often carried out shootings, bombings and suicide commando raids against government and international targets, including aid workers.

The region is awash with guns and multiple armed men and militia forces operate in the area, one of the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers.

Somalia has been riven by civil war since the collapse of the central government in 1991.

The Al-Shabaab have been driven out of Somalia’s major towns by a UN-mandated African Union force (AMISOM).

However, the Al-Shabaab still controls large swathes of southern Somalia as well as pockets of Puntland.

On Monday, a new chief of the AU force took over command, vowing he would lead the 17,700-strong force in a fresh offensive against the Al-Shabaab, with over 4,000 reinforcements expected.

With extra troops, “AMISOM will be able to expand its area of responsibilities to liberate other locations which are currently in the hands of Al-Shabaab ,” said new commander Silas Ntigurirwa, a Burundian general.

The Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an bloody attack in September on a shopping mall in Nairobi in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.

Last week, 13 people were killed in four attacks in Kenya during week-long celebrations to mark the country’s 50th anniversary of independence.

People in the area confirmed that the foreign doctors were of Syrian origin. All those killed were working at Fiqi Hospital, about 13 km outside the city.

People contacting the local media named the three Syrian doctors as Dr Ayman, Dr Abadallah and Dr Abdulhameed. The Somali doctor was named as Dr Abdulkarim.

A fourth Syrian doctor who was named as Dr Mahir was wounded, though the names could not be immediately confirmed.

Three months ago, during the Holy Month of Ramadan, a medical doctor from Fiqi Hospital was killed, also at the outskirts of Mogadishu.

No group has so far claimed responsibility while the government issued no statement related with the deadly incident.

Somalia is one of the worst places for professionals to operate. On 6th of December, a Ugandan lecturer at University of Somalia was gunned down by undefined attackers.