Captured Al Shabaab fighter lured with money
A captured 20-year-old al Shabaab fighter has revealed that he joined
the insurgent group's fighters after being lured with promises of money
and being brainwashed that they were fighting a religious war. Abdinoor
Teqow was captured by KDF troops on May 30 after a foiled ambush by
over 50 al Shabaab militants in Abayebolow area near Afmadhow during
which six of his accomplices were killed and four others injured.
He
was shot in the knee and couldn't run away. Born in the now al
Shabaab-controlled Elasha Biya, Teqow says he and nine other youth were
recruited into al Shabaab and only trained for two days on how to hold a
gun and shoot before being taken to the frontline. He had been fighting
for al Shaabab for only five months before he was captured. "I joined
because of money and religion. We were not trained. They only showed us
how to shoot before we went to war. It was hard work living in the bush
with no food except for the exceptional dates and dry rice we were
offered. We were in a group of about 24 when we attacked the convoy,"
the fifth born in a family of six said.
He said four of his
colleagues were injured during their botched attack on a KDF convoy
between Abayo Bullow and Abdullah Bulle area. Six others were killed by
KDF troops during the encounter. "I will never fight again. I just want
to go back home," the injured fighter said. He revealed that there were
two foreign fighters who only knew few words of the local language among
the attackers. The injured fighter who had been at the Afmadhow health
centre for six days before being interviewed was captured by KDF troops
and taken for treatment before he is released.
Colonel Jeff Nyaga,
the commander of the KDF unit that captured Teqow, said that they do
not kill prisoners of war but instead arrest and hand them over to SNA
and the local community. "We don't kill them when we capture them. We
want them released back to the community so that they can tell their
colleagues about risks of engaging in combat," Nyagah said. KDF has been
inflicting injuries on al Shabaab fighters to reduce their ability to
fight as they struggle to carry away the dead and injured.
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