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At least 15 people were killed in central Somalia when villagers clashed with al-Shabab militants trying to recruit their children as fighters.
According to local sources, 10 activists and five villagers died in the fighting in the village of Aad, in the central administration of Galmudug.
A villager who requested anonymity told the Somali VOA Service that the activists had met with the local elders two days ago and had asked for help with recruitment. "The fighting came after they demanded that we provide young children to fight alongside them," he said.
He said that the villagers organized themselves and decided to resist, but al-Shabab entered the village and took control.
"They use power, they want to take children, they want livestock, the fighting is not over," he said.
Galmudug Regional Deputy Minister of Security, Mahad Hbadan Mohamed, said: 19659002] "They [Al-Shabab] want to take their children and take them to their madrbadas, which people rejected," said Mohamed .
Shabab militants say they defended the village after an attack by regional forces and killed 15 regional troops.
VOA reported last September that Al-Shabab militants had met with clan elders and Koranic school teachers, ordering them to provide young recruits for the training camps. and the madrbadas of Al-Shabab. The move forced hundreds of children to flee Shabab-controlled areas in the Bay and Bakool areas of southwestern Somalia.
Earlier this year, New York-based Human Rights Watch released a report detailing the forced recruitment of Al-Shabab and efforts to keep children away from their parents and religious schools. He said children as young as eight have been affected.
Sanguni Attack
Three Somali soldiers and two militants died in a separate attack Tuesday near the town of Sanguni in the Lower Jubba region, said a military officer at VOA Somali. An American soldier was killed in an al-Shabab mortar attack on June 9.
Mukhtar Abdi Mohamed, commander of the Somali forces unit, said that Shabab militants "fled the river" and surprised Somali troops. an advanced outpost. He said three government soldiers and two militants died in the fighting that followed.
Local sources take stock of seven deaths on Somali soldiers
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