World

Air strike hits Somalia Red Crescent centre

Published Updated

They could not identify who carried out the attack in the town of Baardheere. Kenya, which is eight weeks into a ground and air offensive to crush the al Shabaab rebel group, said on Saturday it had launched an air strike earlier this week on a compound nearby.

"The bomb hit a feeding centre run by the Red Crescent Society and a school building," Hawa Abdillah Mo'alim told Reuters by telephone. "Fortunately it was not a food distribution day," said the woman, a recipient of food aid herself.

The bomb destroyed the centre's critical water tank, residents said. They also said the victim was a man, but no further details were available. A Kenyan military spokesman was not available to comment.

An aid worker said the death toll would have been higher had the feeding centre been distributing food to displaced famine victims. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which supports the

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011