The African Union mission in Somalia (Amisom) has denied it supported government troops in recent clashes with the Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’a Sufi militia in the central town of Guriel, BBC News reports.
The AU mission, accused of supporting Somali federal troops during recent clashes with the Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’a in which at least 120 people were killed, said in a statement that the allegations were “false, toxic and malicious”.
They were “deliberately intended to cause disaffection between Amisom and Somali communities”, the mission said.
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Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a is a Somalia-based paramilitary group consisting of moderate Sufis opposed to radical Salafism. The group opposes hardline capital punishment or limb amputations advocated by extremist interpretations of Islam, as well as laws banning music and khat. They oppose the tearing down of religious shrines and stoning.