…As Police Says Six family members butchered in Rio***
The Somali National Army (SNA) killed at least 20 al-Shabab militants in a fierce fighting in Somali’s southern village of Muse Haji on Tuesday evening, army officials said Wednesday.
The fighting broke out when al-Shabab militants attempted to launch an ambush on military base in Muse Haji village in Lower Juba region in southern Somalia.
“They (al-Shabab) have tried to attack our base but we have managed to bush them back and killed 20 of them,” SNA Commander for the 43rd Sector, Ismail Sheikh Isaq, said.
The commander added that the forces initially fired on a speedy car killing the suicide bomber and then engaged a gun battle with the fighters and later subdued them.
Residents in nearby villages told Xinhua that they heard blasts followed by huge gunfire at the military base .
“The fighting lasted for hours and both sides have exchanged huge gunfire but now the government forces are in full control of the area,” a resident, Ahmed Nur, told Xinhua.
The militant group is yet to comment on the latest assault by SNA which comes amid increased military operations in southern Somalia particularly Lower Shabelle region which remains one of the strongholds of the group.
In the meantime, Brazilian police said Tuesday it was investigating the murder of six members of the same family in Rio de Janeiro, in which the only survivor was a seven-month old baby.
According to Brazilian press reports, the massacre related to a settling of scores between drug traffickers.
They named 19-year-old Bruno de Souza, known as “Indio,” as the primary target of the assassins.
The slaughter took place overnight between Monday and Tuesday in Mangaratiba, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Rio.
Rio police would only confirm the investigation into the deaths of de Souza, his 22-year-old partner, a 37-year-old woman and her 33-year-old partner, as well as their two children, aged 16 and 18.
According to Extra newspaper, the mother of one of the two murdered women said she had found the crying baby on a couch among the bullet-ridden bodies.
Until Monday night’s bloodshed, the town of Mangaratiba, with a population of 30,000 people, was best known for being the place where football superstar Neymar went to recover in a luxury villa from a February operation on a broken foot.
The whole country held its breath waiting to see if he would recover in time to play at the World Cup.
Just two years after hosting the Olympic Games, Rio has plunged into a security crisis, with daily gun battles caused by rival drug gangs and the often heavy-handed intervention of local police.
In February, President Michel Temer brought in the army to maintain law and order in Rio’s notorious slums, but to little effect.
Shootings have increased by 36 percent since then, according to a report by one research group.
Additional report from AFP
