Hiiraan Online
Monday, November 2, 2015
BOSSASO (HOL) – A soldier with Puntland military went on a shooting spree Monday, killing three comrades at a military post in an outlying flashpoint area before he was later shot dead by other soldiers, officials said.
The shooting took place at a military camp in Galgala, where troops are fighting the Al-Qaeda linked fighters who are trying to make take control of the region in northern Somalia.
“He sprayed bullets on soldiers who were drinking tea, and killed a senior official and two deputies.” said Col. Shire Omar, the commander of Puntland’s military known as “Dervishes’.
“He was killed by other officer as he tried to escape.” He told Voice of America Somali Service.
Mr. Omar has dismissed reports that he had an argument with the fallen soldiers before he killed them.
It was not clear if the soldier who killed his colleagues was a sleeper cell for militant groups fighting the government in the region.
The names of the soldiers have not yet been released pending notification of their relatives.
Puntland is fighting Al-Shabab fighters in the mountainous Galgala town which changed hands for the past few years. Al-Shabab is fighting to set up a key base in the strategic town that can provide safe haven for the group's fighters often targeted by aerial attacks, mostly by the US forces.