Mogadishu - Somali families are refusing
to bury the bodies of 10 loved ones, including three children,
until the government takes responsibility for killing them in a
U.S.-backed military raid, officials said on Sunday.
The ten were shot dead when Somalia's army, supported by
U.S. troops, carried out an operation in Bariire village, about
50 km (30 miles) from the capital on Friday.
Ali Nur, the deputy governor of the surrounding Lower
Shabelle region, told Reuters the bodies would be stored until
the government pays compensation - a particularly jarring action
in a Muslim culture that buries its dead quickly.
"We refused to bury them because the government has denied
and it still has not directly admitted it killed the civilians,"
Nur told Reuters.
"The government should admit it killed the civilians and
then compensate."
Authorities had converted a refrigerated lobster truck into
a mortuary to hold the bodies, he said.
The U.S. Africa Command said on Friday U.S. forces were
involved in the Bariire operation in a supporting role and it
was investigating reports of civilian casualties. It gave no
immediate fresh comment on Sunday.
Somalia's army initially said all the dead were members of
the Islamist al Shabaab militia that it is fighting with help
from U.S. and African Union forces - but later acknowledged some
civilians had died.
CLAN FIGHTING
Local elders told Reuters the U.S. troops had been
unwittingly drawn into clan fighting in the area, particularly
around Bariire village, the centre of a feud between two
powerful and well-armed groups.
Lawmaker Dahir Amin Jesow said those killed were farmers who
had armed themselves to defend themselves against a rival group.
"How would you feel if your own government kills your
brothers and labels them as militants?" asked Hassan Mohamed, a
cousin of one of the deceased.
"We want them to admit, apologise and compensate. Otherwise
there will be no peace," he said.
Local elders and ambulance drivers who ferried the bodies
confirmed that the dead were stored in the truck.
"The government wants the bodies buried prior to
investigation but we will not. We shall have the bodies inside
the truck even for a month," elder Mohamed Hussein told Reuters.
The government says it has formed a team to investigate the
incident.
The Bariire operation is likely to provoke questions in
Washington about the growing U.S. footprint in the Horn of
Africa nation, which has been torn apart by civil war since
1991. A U.S. Navy Seal was killed in Somalia in May, the first
U.S. combat death there since 1993.
The White House has granted the U.S. military broader
authority to carry out strikes in Somalia against al Shabaab,
which is linked to al Qaeda.