As Daadmaadeed regional police report that non was injured in the unprovoked incident now under investigation
By: Yusuf M Hasan
Somaliland sun – Residents of Bali Reer Elmi village in Odweine districts are in fear of their lives following an attack from the skies.
According to the Daadmadeed regional police a low flying military aircraft sprayed bullets to residents of Bali Reer Elmi village during the early afternoon of 15th November 2016.
“Fortunately non was injured during the incident” Daadmadeed regional police commander Mohamed Ali Abdi told Geeska Afrika in a telephone interview.
The police officer who was flanked by the Odweine district police commander Abdilahi Diriye Elmi Aduur also confirmed that the attack was perpetrated by a military airplane whose ownership is yet to be identified.
While stressing on the fact that the Daadmadeed region is a regular path for foreign military planes on the way to anti-Alshabaab operations in the Neighbouring country of Somalia that borders somaliland to the east, the police officers informed that this is the first time for such an attack.
“It is a fact that military fighter and bomber jets flying out of Djibouti for operations in Somalia fly over this region on a regular basis” revealed the regional police commander,
Djibouti is home to a number of foreign militaries that are involved in anti-terror operations through the use of conventional airplanes as well drones. While the European Union Naval force has a large contingent of crafts on anti-Somali piracy duties within the gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean that operate under Operation Atalanta.
In Somaliland whose airspace either by consent or not, is usually the flight path of airborne anti terrorism operations in Somalia by the Djibouti based forces, and known to fly very low sometimes, an attack on the area and anywhere else in Somaliland has never occurred.
While the Daadmaadeed regional police have confirmed the incident and revealed that investigations are ongoing to ascertain the airplanes country of origin and reasons behind the attack, the central Authorites in Hargeisa are yet to issue a statement.
In the past Several flights by a low flying craft have been reported in Faraweine District of Marodi-jeeh (Hargeisa) region in Somaliland but without threatening the safety of residents
