Somali military in Mogadishu, Somalia (AFP)

At least eight people, including six children, were killed on Sunday in Somalia after their modified auto-rickshaw detonated as a result of a planted landmine, Anadolu Agency reported, citing local officials.

According to the agency, the incident took place in Hirshabelle state, between the villages of Jicibow and Bulaburde.

Ibrahim Abdi Ali, a security officer in Jowhar, the state's administrative capital, told Anadolu that the dead were two families driving together to their farms in the same auto-rickshaw.

"A father, a mother and six children from two families were tragically killed today by a landmine that the terrorist (group) al Shabaab planted near the road. It is heartbreaking and tragic to even talk about this," Ali said.

The official underlined that the sides responsible for the crime against defenseless civilians will not go unpunished.

Despite no organization claiming its responsibility, local officials blamed the Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab terrorist group for the attack.

The incident came on the same day as the Somali army, with the assistance of the country's foreign security partners, launched land and aerial operations against al Shabaab, killing over 40 militants, including ringleaders, in Welmaro, a town 40 kilometers away from Afmadow in the Lower Jubba region of Somalia, as per the Somali Ministry of Defense.