MOGADISHU (AFP) — Two British nationals and two Kenyans, all of them employed at an English school in a Somali town, were killed in an overnight raid by suspected Islamist insurgents, witnesses said Monday.
According to witnesses and relatives in the town of Beledweyn, the four victims were a British-Somali female teacher, another dual national who was the school's headmaster and two Kenyan teachers.
"The British female teacher and the two Kenyans, who were also teachers, were killed last night here in Beledweyn," Abdihakin Mohamoud Hassan, a cousin of the deceased headmaster, told AFP.
He said that a group of heavily armed gunmen attacked the home where the four teachers lived and dragged them out.
The two Kenyans were shot dead in front of the school, the British woman was killed a little further away while the headmaster attempted to escape but was caught and shot and in a neighbouring home, Hassan said.
Islamist militia spokesman Mukhtar Robow blamed the security men of the four for opening fire at their fighters during the raid.
"The security men are responsible for the killing. We don't usually kill innocent people in our operations," Robow told AFP.
Beledweyn is the capital of Somalia's Hiraan region and is located about 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, near the border with Ethiopia.
"We don't know why they were killed, but it happened when Islamist insurgents briefly took control of Beledweyn town last night," Hassan added.
Mohamed Nur Ali, another local, said at least 15 men armed with machine guns stormed the house where the three foreign teachers were residing.
"Minutes later, we heard gunshots that killed the two Kenyans and the British woman of Somali origin," added Ali.
Several other witnesses confirmed the attack.
The main Islamist rebel organisation in Somalia did not claim responsibility for the attack.
"We know that three foreigners were killed in Beledweyn, but we do not know who is responsible," Mukhtar Robbow, a top spokesman for the Shebab, said.
In a separate incident late Sunday in the port city of Merka, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Mogadishu, suspected insurgents killed four civilians when they hurled a grenade on a cinema.
"A hand grenade was hurled on a movie theatre inside the town, killing four people. More than ten others were wounded," Merka police commissioner Hussein Gagale told AFP.
"We were watching an Indian movie when a huge explosion rocked the place. People started screaming, I saw at least three dead and I was very lucky to escape," said Salah Ahmed Abdallah, a witness.
"I heard that another person died of his injuries later in hospital."
Islamist insurgents have carried out a string of attacks recently across the Horn of Africa country.
The Islamic Courts Union took over Mogadishu and large swathes of the country from US-backed warlords in 2006, briefly imposing a strict form of Sharia law, banning music and cinemas.
They were ousted last year by Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops but its remnants have since waged a deadly guerrilla war.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since former president Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. The ensuing civil unrest has defied more than a dozen peace initiatives.
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