Harar24, a Mogadishu based online news outlet, alleged that troops belonging to the “Liyuu Police” (a local notorious militia) who come under the Ethiopian
administration in Somali region of Ethiopia have came under
accusation of massacring almost sixty ethnic Somalis in the cities of
Mustahil and Qalafo on the border Somali-Ethiopian border.
According to local sources the Jigjiga based administration accused
the local inhabitants of harboring and providing a safe haven to
Al-Shabaab members in the area, a claim denied by the local inhabitants.
A local tribal leader Omar Sheekh Yusuf alleged that all of those who
were killed were innocent people, the majority of them being herders.
According to Somali Member of Parliament Ali Abdi Ali, who originally
hails from the area surrounding Mustahil and Qalafe confirmed the
occurrence of the massacre at Mustahil and Qalafe. “We have confirmation
that the forces belonging to the Liyuu Police massacred innocent
herders in the areas surrounding Mustahil and Qalafe. The Jigjiga based
Ethiopian administration was behind this massacre and this is a fact.”
Sources in the region alleged that systematic rape also took place
alongside the killings. “They came and started shooting in the air. They
rounded us up, my mother and sisters and they raped us. When they
left we found my father dead. My brother was not found amongst the dead
bodies. We don’t know where he is.” said one of the victims who
preferred to keep her identity hidden for fear of repercussion.
The “Liyuu Police” and the Ethiopian administration have long been
accused of ruthlessness, lawlessness, cracking down on ethnic Somalis in
the region and violating human rights yet remain apprehended. It's to be recalled that the state sponsored terrorism of Liyuu police were published by this blogger following a revelation of a smuggled video on Swedish National Television by former official of this region
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