Mogadishu (Sunatimes) Forty children below the age of fifteen are reported to have died in the latest wave of fighting in Mogadishu, after they were abducted by Al-Shabaab fighters from the Middle Shabelle region of Somalia.

The children have been abducted forcefully from the districts of Jowhar and Balad in the Middle Shabelle region and were later deployed in the front positions of the fight which caused most of them to die instantly.

One of the children who managed to escape and was moved to government controlled part of Mogadishu by his mother, told Bar-kulan that most of his friends were killed in the fighting.

The child ran to Jowhar district where his mother secretly moved him back to Mogadishu for fear of his life.

Young men and boys living in areas under the control of Al-Shabaab militias are at increasing risk of being forcibly recruited by the militias. The children are reportedly trained to fight on the front line, including as suicide bombers.

By Rooble Dirir