Five killed in land-mine incident

A minibus traveling from the coastal town of Kismayo on its way to Mogadishu, 500 km to the north, on Wednesday detonated a land mine at Erile near the town of Barawe, after covering just over 200 km. This was the fourth such incident in the same area in a week, local sources told IRIN. Abdishakur Muhammad, a Barawe businessman, said three people died on the spot, while two died of their wounds soon afterwards. Most of the injured were taken to Marka hospital, some 90 km to the north, he said. On 15 July five people were injured when the bus they were traveling hit a land mine less than two kilometres from Wednesday’s incident. The increase in land-mine incidents was attributed to conflict between the indigenous Tuni clan and settler clans of the Abgal and Habar Gedir, over the charcoal trade in the area, local sources told IRIN. The Tuni wanted a share of this lucrative trade, sources said. [For more details see IRIN separate: Land-mine incidents blamed on charcoal trade].