It was 11.15pm on June 7, 2011. Soldiers manning a checkpoint near Sarkuusta, southwest of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, suddenly flagged down a vehicle for a routine inspection.
The driver of the Toyota 4x4 obeyed the orders from the Somalia National Army. Captain Hassan Mohamed Abukar, in charge of the joint military and police squad, ordered the driver to switch on the light inside the car to reveal faces of the occupants.