Poor Somalli families 'evicted from homes'

Hundreds of poor Somali families have been forcibly evicted from their homes near the main airport in the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said today.

The move comes as the country’s fragile government battles Islamic militants who usually fire mortars from residential areas.

One resident, Asha Madey, said that she had spent the night in the open with her seven children after their two-room house was destroyed by security personnel with bulldozers.

Police spokesman Abdulahi Hassan Barise said the plan will continue until threats to the main airport are eliminated.

The targeted area was a former air force base and is about 100 yards from the airport’s fence.

Human rights groups say the families – who squatted the idle land – have no place to go.