Children killed in bombing

The competing claims are typical in the months-long battle between Kenyan troops and al-Shabab militants inside Somalia. Both sides use social networking sites to broadcast claims in the battle, but hardly any of those claims are verifiable by independent journalists.
Shamsudin Ali, a resident in the southern Somali town of Jilib, said a Sunday afternoon strike by Kenyan jets may have targeted a militant camp but instead hit a nearby house, killing four brothers and one child from another family. Ali called it a “bungled” attack.
Al-Shabab said that the children’s mother was out buying food during the bombing. Ali told The Associated Press the same thing. Another resident, Nadifo Haji, said she saw two dead al-Shabab fighters being transported into a minivan after the attack.
“Al-Shabab fighters were also killed, but we ask Kenya to cautiously fight their enemy instead of killing our children. They killed many civilians before! If they are serious why don’t they hit al-Shabab camps? They must not motivate us into joining the fight,” she said.
Maj Emmanuel Chirchir, the spokesman for Kenya’s military, said on his Twitter and Facebook sites yesterday that the Sunday attack in Jilib hit an al-Shabab command centre, destroying communication equipment. Chirchir said a second strike was carried out in the town of Bibi, destroying eight vehicles. He said al-Shabab fighters died in the strike but did not say how many. He did not mention the claims of dead children.
Kenya has conducted numerous air raids in southern Somalia since sending troops over the border in October following a string of attacks by Somali gunmen on Kenyan soil. – AP.