Unknown gunmen killed eight Somali traditional elders who reportedly backed a new state comprised of six regions in the south-west of the country, officials and witnesses said Monday.

The elders were attacked near Buurhakabo while travelling from the town of Baidabo to their homes in the Lower Shabelle region, Buurhakabo deputy commissioner Ali Hassan told dpa. The gunmen shot the elders and stole their car, he said. The militant Islamist group al-Shabaab denied involvement.

Reports said the elders had participated in an election in Baidabo of former warlord Madoobe Nuunow as president of six regions in the south-west of the country.

The unilaterally declared new state has been rejected by the federal government, the United Nations and the African Union, which have warned the move can spark political tensions and violence.

Prime Minister Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed condemned the killing of the elders as a “brutal cruelty” and called for an immediate investigation.

Source: Timeslive