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'Syrian and Somali doctors' shot dead near Mogadishu | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Three Syrian doctors and their Somali colleague have been shot dead in an ambush near Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, witnesses have told the BBC. | Three Syrian doctors and their Somali colleague have been shot dead in an ambush near Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, witnesses have told the BBC. |
Gunmen opened fire on their car as they travelled towards a health clinic, the eyewitnesses said. | Gunmen opened fire on their car as they travelled towards a health clinic, the eyewitnesses said. |
Two of their bodyguards were also killed in the attack, while another Syrian and Somali doctor were seriously wounded, they said. | Two of their bodyguards were also killed in the attack, while another Syrian and Somali doctor were seriously wounded, they said. |
Many militias and criminal gangs operate in Somalia. | |
In recent years, the country has also been hit by an insurgency waged by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group. | |
However, it did not carry out the attack, an unnamed senior official of the group told the AFP news agency. | |
'Indiscriminate shooting' | |
The Syrian doctors were believed to be in Somalia as aid workers. | The Syrian doctors were believed to be in Somalia as aid workers. |
The BBC's Mohamed Moalimu reports from Mogadishu that the ambush took place in Siinka Dheer, a government-controlled district about 20km (13 miles) south of the capital. | The BBC's Mohamed Moalimu reports from Mogadishu that the ambush took place in Siinka Dheer, a government-controlled district about 20km (13 miles) south of the capital. |
The gunmen escaped after firing indiscriminately at the vehicle, eyewitnesses told him. | |
The two wounded doctors are receiving emergency treatment at Mogadishu's Medina Hospital, our reporter adds. | |
The bodies of the six people killed in the attack have also been brought to the hospital, he says. | The bodies of the six people killed in the attack have also been brought to the hospital, he says. |
In August, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) announced that it was closing all its programmes in Somalia because of "extreme attacks on its staff". | |
Armed groups and civilian leaders increasingly "support, tolerate or condone the killing, assaulting, and abducting of humanitarian aid workers", it said at the time. | |
MSF had worked for 22 years in the war-torn country. | |
Over the last two years, al-Shabab militants have been driven out of Somalia's major towns and cities by pro-government forces and a UN-mandated African Union force of some 18,000 soldiers. | |
But the group still controls many towns and rural areas of southern Somalia. | |
It says it is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. |
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