More than 100 Somali civilians have been killed this week in U.S. and Ethiopian air strikes in southern Somalia, according to clan elders and residents. Sheikh Abdullahi Ali Malabon, an elder in the badly hit Afmadow area said Thursday 100 bodies had been counted.
"We have sent a team to assess the casualties there and they have confirmed more than 100 people killed," he told AFP. "Many others were wounded but we don't have an exact number."
Residents in other villages closer to the Kenyan border reported at least 100 civilian deaths, but stressed that they only found 29 bodies, some burned beyond recognition.
"I was with a team sent to the bombardment areas near the Dhobley village to bury the dead, what I have seen was really terrible," said Absuge Mohamed Weli, a Dhobley resident.
"I counted 29 dead people, some of them burned so they could not be identified, and we have buried them," he said. "A lot of people were also wounded."
"I have seen more dead bodies in the forest, I recognized some of them and they were local civilians," Weli said. "They were killed while keeping their animals. I have also seen animals, most of them cows, dead in villages."
It wasn't immediately clear if the Dhobley and Afmadow estimates included the same reported deaths.
"We estimate about 100 innocent civilians have been killed," said Dhobley elder Moalim Adan Osman. "Some are still missing and I think their bodies are somewhere in the forest."
"The airplanes have bombed large areas and the whole zone is jungle and no one can classify what is inside," he said. "They have bombed the nomads in the area indiscriminately."
The Pentagon confirmed only one air strike that took place in southern Somalia on Monday, claiming that it was part of a wider offensive aimed at an al-Qaeda cell that includes suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa and a hotel in Kenya.
U.S. officials declined to comment on reports of other air strikes reported by locals on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Reports say most of the attacks targeted an area close to Ras Kamboni, a coastal village near the Kenyan border where many Islamists are believed to be hiding after being ousted by Ethiopia-backed government forces in late 2006.
On Wednesday, Ethiopia claimed that Monday's U.S. strike didn't cause any civilian casualties, but didn't mention raids carried out by Ethiopian troops.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the U.S. bombardments killed only eight "terrorists" and wounded five, who were then arrested by his forces.
But Mohamed Ibrahim Guled, an Afmadow resident, said "a lot" of civilians had been killed by the U.S. raid.
"We haven't seen any al-Qaeda members killed but what we can confirm is that a lot of innocent civilians have been killed by the American warplanes," he told AFP. "They hit civilian sites and forests where nomads keep animals."
Dirir Moalim Hussein, a herder, said his wife and two other members of his family were killed as they tried to flee the attacks on their town of Bulo Haji between Dhobley and Afmadow.
"We are really scared," he said. "We heard bombing and heavy explosions over our village, it was dark and no one could see well. I ran with two children, I don't know in what direction, but three of my family were killed, including my wife."
"I have nothing right now," Hussein said. "I have lost everything, they have bombed my cows and goats, we don't know what crime we committed and we have been punished for no reason."
The U.S. strikes were defended by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, but criticized by international leaders, including UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who expressed concern over the reported loss of civilian lives.
Analysts also criticized the U.S.'s military intervention in Somalia, warning that it would inflame anti-U.S. sentiments in the largely Muslim nation and spark new tensions in an area that is already very destabilized.
AJP and Agencies
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