Al Shabaab abducts 100 Somali civilians

Somali authorities said Friday that Al Shabaab militant group have taken about 100 civilians as hostages in the southwestern Bakool province. The deputy minister of security in the regional government Abdul Razaq Ali Adam, said in a press statement that Al Shabaab militants kidnapped about 100 civilians in Bakool, pointing out that most of the abducted are shepherds who refused to pay what the movement calls "Zakat". The same official said that the movement accuses some of the kidnapped of spying for the Somali government, and others of voting for the current Somali parliamentarians, stressing that security and military forces will begin operations to free the kidnapped.