A Somali soldier killed five people and wounded three others in the famine-struck Somali capital yesterday as starving women and children gathered for food aid handouts, witnesses said.

“The soldier was arrested by the Somali police forces after the shooting,” said witness Ahmed Qumbe, who saw several dead bodies at the scene.

All those who died were displaced people who had fled drought or famine in the surrounding countryside, witnesses said.

“It was horrible, I heard gunshots as displaced people gathered for food distribution, several were killed and others injured,” said one, Abdiqani Adan.

The soldier reportedly opened fire after desperate crowds started pushing and shoving each other at the food distribution centre in Mogadishu’s Waberi district, in the south of the war-torn capital. Somali Security Minister Mohamed Ali condemned the shooting.

“A soldier killed five civilians and injured three others after he opened fire on people who had gathered for humanitarian assistance,” Mr Ali said.

“It was a barbaric and unacceptable act, and government security forces swiftly arrested the perpetrator,” he said, adding that “investigations are still going on.”

Hundreds of people are believed to be dying each day in Somalia from famine exacerbated by conflict and the United Nations has said that three-quarters of a million Somalis are facing death by starvation, many of them children.

Six southern Somali regions have been declared famine zones, including inside Mogadishu, where over 100,000 people have fled to seeking aid in the past two months.