Overnight attack by Al-Shabaab kills at least 19 in Somalia

Fighters from the Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab have killed at least 19 civilians in a night-time attack in central Somalia, clan chiefs and local officials said on September 3.

The attack comes two weeks after Al-Shabaab, which has waged a long insurgency against the Somali state, besieged a hotel in the capital Mogadishu for 30 hours, leaving 21 people dead and 117 injured, France 24 informs.

The sources said at least eight vehicles were travelling on a road between the towns of Beledweyne and Maxaas when the insurgents intercepted and burned them and killed the passengers overnight from September 2 to 3 by Afar-Irdood village.

"The terrorists massacred innocent civilians who were travelling... last night. We don't have the exact number of victims, but 19 dead bodies have been collected," local clan elder Abdulahi Hared told AFP.

"The dead bodies are still being collected, including women and children. They could be more than 20," said Ali Jeyte, the governor of the Hiiraan region where the attack happened.

"This was a horrible attack that has never happened in our region. These were innocent civilians who did nothing to deserve this," added another local clan leader, Mohamed Abdirahman.

Al-Shabaab in a statement said they targeted fighters from a local sub-clan that recently helped government forces and that they killed 20 "militiamen and those who were transporting material for them", destroying nine of their vehicles.

Local fighters and the security forces recaptured several villages from Al-Shabaab in the region in late August.

Ali Gudlawe, president of Hirshabelle state where the attack took place, released a statement offering condolences to the victims' loved ones and promising to continue "operations to cleanse" the region of Al-Shabaab.