According to eyewitnesses, a police officer at Siinka Dheer checkpoint on the Afgoye-Mogadishu corridor shot dead a 20-year-old minibus driver following an argument over illegal payment of money demanded by the officer.

"The officer who was at the checkpoint demanded the driver to pay him one dollar and when the driver complained about the illegal money, he was shot two times on the head,” an eyewitness who requested anonymity due to his safety told Horn Globe News.

The deceased has been identified as Sakariye Ahmed Haji Hussein and resident of Wanla-weyn district of Lower Shabelle. He left a wife and a younger kid behind, according to family members who later recovered the body.

Sakariye’s 14-seat passenger minibus departed from Wanla-weyn district, about 90km from Mogadishu and was driving to the capital before he was unfortunately murdered.

"He was a family man who worked for his survival and to the support of his family. He was killed for no reason,” says Abdulkadir Mohamud, a relative and a driver plying the same route.

"It is unfortunate that the very police supposed to protect civilians are killing civilians,” he adds.

Government forces manning at least three checkpoints on the key road extort civilians and aid convoys and at times resulting deaths and injuries of civilians.

IDP woman shot dead

In a separate incident another police officer who works as a guard shot dead an elderly woman from nearby internal displaced camp queuing for cash aid distribution near Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu’s Wadajir district.

Eyewitnesses and two women from the displaced camp said the woman who was disabled could not walk fast as the officer who guarded the hotel pointed his gun ordering her to move away from him.

The woman was disabled and had difficult walking. The armed officer shouted at her telling to move away before he shot her on the head,” Halima Ahmed, told Horn Globe News.

The deceased woman was among a dozen of drought-hit families living in a displacement camp in Mogadishu. They were gathering at a Non-governmental office to receive their cash entitlements from the World Food Programme (WFP). The project is supported by the European Union.

Local activists and journalists took to the social media as the news of the deaths of the two spread. They demanded for justice for the driver and the displaced woman shot by the police officers.

"There is no justice. There is no peace. Why are the innocent citizens killed. This has been a daily occurrence,” said a female facebook user Naima Abdi.

"The government should apprehend the criminal police officers who shot the poor woman and the driver,” Guled Mohamed asked.

The two alleged killers were not arrested as there were no immediate responses from the top police chief and the Banadir police commander when sought for comments.

Residents say the Afgoye corridor is now the most insecure route for civilians. Last Monday suspected militants shot and killed nine people as they opened fire on women street cleaners working along the highway from Mogadishu to Afgoye.

Last year, Human Rights Watch alleged the Somali security forces of unlawfully killing civilians including internally displaced persons.

"Security forces unlawfully killed and wounded civilians during infighting over land, control of roadblocks, disarmament operations, and aid distribution,” the Somalia Events of 2017 Report said.

Accountability for abuses by security forces was almost nonexistent, the rights group noted.