Somalia probes Kenya air strikes against civilians

Somalia’s government has formed a committee to investigate claims of heavy civilian casualties following Kenyan air strikes in the southern part of the country.

The strikes were apparently in response to the al-Shabab attack which killed an unknown number of Kenyan soldiers in the town of el-Ade on 15 January.

Kenya has denied the militants’ claim of heavy casualties but has not given its own figures.

Somalia’s Defence Minister General Abdilkadir Ali Dini, who is leading the investigation, confirmed the development but did not give further details.

Kenya contributes more than 4,000 troops to the 22,000-strong AU force that is in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda.