NAIROBI, Kenya (Kaab TV) – At least two men were killed in Baidoa last Monday after Somali federal forces and allied militia seized the city from Southwest State authorities, according to a former senior Somali police official.
The two victims, who were employed by a local non-governmental organisation, were shot dead and their bodies set alight, according to General Mahad Abdirahman, a former Somali police custodial corps commander who also led the Southwest police command in Baidoa.
Speaking in an interview with a Nairobi-based Somali journalist on Saturday, General Mahad laid blame squarely on the militia forces and Somali federal government troops who entered Baidoa following the takeover.
“They were killed because they were Harin clan,” he said.
“Their bodies were burned with gasoline poured on them by the militia.”
General Mahad claimed that the killings took place inside a house belonging to Aden Mohamed Nur Madobe, Speaker of the Somali Federal Parliament’s lower house.
Aden Madobe had not responded to the accusations at the time of publication.
The Somali federal government has also yet to comment on the reported killings.
Chaos Follows Baidoa’s Fall
Baidoa descended into turmoil on Monday after federal forces completed their takeover of the city, prompting Southwest State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen to flee.
He departed for Nairobi, Kenya on a chartered flight along with his closest leadership circle and family members.
A local journalist in Baidoa told Kaab TV that the two young men were captured by militia allied to Somali government forces on Monday before being executed.
General Mahad, himself a close relative of Laftagareen, said he had spent nearly a week under house arrest in Mogadishu before being released after federal forces took full control of Baidoa.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, whose term expires in mid-May, travelled to Baidoa on Friday to begin consultations on forming a new administration for the region.
His arrival was immediately overshadowed when Al-Shabaab fired mortar rounds at Shaati Gaduud Airport as his plane landed, in what appeared to be a direct attempt on his life.
No casualties among the presidential party were reported.