Somali soldiers blocking African Union peace keeping forces
MOGADISHU, June 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Soldiers in the Somali capital Mogadishu have ended their protest over unpaid salaries.
They had blocked roads in the city, with some saying they had not received wages in over a year.
Local television footage showed troops blocking vehicles from the African Union peacekeeping force from passing.
The soldiers are fighting the militant group al-Shabaab who said they carried out one of two attacks this weekend killing at least seven people.
Three militants blew themselves up in a car at a military checkpoint in Bacadweyn town in central Somalia’s Galmudug state, killing three soldiers.
The militants set off a bomb when soldiers shot at the vehicle after its occupants ignored orders to stop at a military checkpoint, Maj Abdullahi Ahmed, a military officer in the nearby town of Galkayo said.
Separately, two bombs were detonated in front of the home of a military official in Wanlaweyn town, north-west of the capital Mogadishu, killing four people.
“First we heard a blast at the house. The military officer was absent by then. Guards and residents came to find out what caused the blast and then a second blast went off,” Mohamed Nur, a police officer in Wanlaweyn, said.
Al-Shabaab wants Islamic law, known as sharia, to be more strictly adhered to in Somalia and is fighting to overthrow the government.
There are reports that the troops blocking the roads in Mogadishu had recently been fighting against al-Shabaab militants in the Shebelle region.
Last year the Somali government – under pressure from international donors – began paying soldiers directly via banks in order to stop commanders from siphoning off some of the troops’ meagre salaries.
Officials also found thousands of names of soldiers who did not exist or had long left the army on the payroll. — NNN-AGENCIES
