By Editor
The Airforce Wing of the Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) jets have been dropping bombs repeatedly on defenseless townspeople in the border towns of Somalia’s Gedo since Saturday the 25th September 2021.
The bombardments have been reported to ravage Elwak and Damase towns where a total of 7 direct hits have taken place. Many residents believe this recent spike of aerial attacks are a collective punishment aimed towards the residents to supposedly revenge for the kdf soldiers killed near the border.
Mohamed Aden, a Gedo resident who has given insights in his call with Radio Shabelle said “the Kenyan military had intensified its air strikes against residential areas in towns of Gedo region and the strikes have also severely damaged Hormuud Telecom masts, causing the disruption of internet and communication services for many of the population which has made it hard for anyone to know how many people were killed or injured due to lack of mobile telephone signals.”
Earlier this year, similar aerial attacks claimed the lives of a mother and her 2 children in El Adde, Gedo. As usual AMISOM released a statement promising to investigate the troop contributing country; Kenya which also supports the Federal Member State leader Ahmed Mohamed Islam (Madoobe). Much of Gedo is under Federal Government control while Al-Shabab controls much of the Jubba regions, literally having a capital under the nose of Kdf and Madoobe forces. Why has there been no operations against the Al Qaeda backed terrorists?
The Somali Federal Government has previously condemned the airstrikes conducted within its border and instructed that such operations should not take place in the first place. This makes the 116th airstrike to be conducted by Kenya since its initial invasion 10 years ago on October 2011 with 83 of them being conducted in Gedo. How long can this go on? None of the airstrikes have ever killed a terrorist so for how long can this loss of life, livestock and property go on?
