Twenty civilians were killed Saturday in a terrorist attack that was carried out by Al Shabaab group and targeted a fleet of vehicles in Somalia"s central region. According to the Somali authorities, the militant terrorist group set fire to the trucks, which were transporting civilians and supplies outside the Mahas District, in Somalia"s Hiran region. The actions caused the deaths of 20 passengers and injuring several others, while few were able to flee on foot. “The terrorists massacred innocent civilians who were traveling ... last night. We don’t have the exact number of victims, but 19 dead bodies have been collected,” local clan elder Abdulahi Hared told the AFP news agency. “The dead bodies are still being collected, including women and children. They could be more than 20,” said Ali Jeyte, the governor of the Hiran region where the attack happened. State news agency Sonna reported that Al-Shabaab fighters set fire to the trucks and “killed most of the people on board the vehicles”. Al-Shabaab in a statement said they targeted fighters from a local sub-clan that recently helped government forces and that they killed 20 “militiamen and those who were transporting material for them”, destroying nine of their vehicles. The Al-Qaeda-linked group has battled Somalia’s central government for more than a decade. It wants to establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The group frequently launches bombings, gun assaults and other attacks on military and civilian targets. Last month more than 20 people were killed in an attack in which Al-Shabaab fighters stormed the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, triggering a 30-hour battle as government troops sought to end the siege and free hostages. — Agencies