Ten killed as Somali gunmen steal food aid from camp

At least 10 killed as armed gang raids a camp in Somali capital, stealing relief food

Last updated: September 15, 2018 | 18:59

1 MIN READ

Mogadishu: At least 10 people were killed Friday when an armed gang raided a camp in the Somali capital and stole relief food meant for thousands of drought-affected people, officials and witnesses said.

"Five people died on the spot after militiamen opened fire to loot the food aid," said Abdi Kadir Mohammad, a driver.

"There was chaos and everybody was running for cover after the security escorting the food aid convoy exchanged fire with the armed gang. The food was looted," Mohammad added.

Residents at the Badbado camp had been queuing up for food supplied by the World Food Programme when the gunmen attacked.

Ali Isa, an official with a local NGO partnering with the WFP, said the UN agency had brought some 300 tonnes of food for the displaced at the camp set up by Somalia's Western-backed government.

It was not immediately clear who the attackers were, but Somalia's Al Qaida-inspired Shebab rebels have been fighting to topple the government and banned several foreign aid groups from regions under their control.

The UN on Wednesday declared three more Somali areas, including Mogadishu and Afgoye area to the west of the capital, as facing famine.

Somalis carry their belongings from southern Somalia as they arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011.

Mumino Mayow, 43, looks on as she puts her severely malnourished baby boy Mohammad Ebrahim Shegow, 2, on her lap at Taleh camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, 25 July 2011. The United Nations World Food Programme announced on 25 July that it would begin an airlift of food aid into Mogadishu on 26 July.

A newly arrived refugee family from the Lower Shabelle region in Somalia carry their belongings into the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya border.

Somali refugee girls collect water from a tank at the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, nearthe Kenya-Somalia border. They can scarcely venture out at night for fear of sexual predators.

A mother lies exhausted with her child on a dusty road in Mogadishu while waiting for medical assistance from The Gift of the Givers at a makeshift medical camp. Three more areas of Somalia were declared famine hit on Wednesday, with the UN warning that the prospects were worsening.

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