Locals clash with Al-Shabaab over alms collection, over 10 people killed

Over ten combatants including Al-Shabaab and locals were killed and several others wounded after Al-Shabaab launched assaults on at Dumaaye village which lies 25km west of Harardhere town of Mudug region.

The fighting erupted after resident took arms against Al-Shabaab over alms or zakah (an Islamic levy on wealth).

According to a local resident who declined his named, local fighters defied Al-Shabaab order to round up their livestock.

“Al-Shabaab tried to demand zakah from local herders but they refused prompting the fight that left four locals dead,” he said.

Al-Shabaab fighters took control of the areas as the locals were pushed out of the villages.

Al-Shabaab adopted monthly Zakat that obliges every nomadic family with 10 heads of livestock to give away at least one, while those rearing as many as 20 are needed to contribute three in alms, according locals.

The group is carrying out hit and run attacks in major towns under government and deadly explosions in the capital Mogadishu.