SOMALIA: Mortar blasts in Mogadishu kills at least twelve

Record ID: 352349

  • Title: SOMALIA: Mortar blasts in Mogadishu kills at least twelve
  • Date: 29th September 2009
  • Summary: PEOPLE WALKING PATCH OF BLOOD ON GROUND/BODY COVERED WITH A CLOTH PEOPLE STANDING NEAR SHOES COVERED IN BLOOD
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAD7I4H1LQWBM8D3V9Y3V3ZBIDO
  • Story Text: Fighting in Somalia's capital Mogadishu killed at least 12 people after African Union troops exchanged mortar fire with insurgents on Monday (September 28), witnesses said.
    Residents said rebels launched artillery at the AU-guarded sea port first, prompting the peacekeepers to fire back.
    A spokesman for the AU peacekeeping force AMISOM said they returned fire after a group of insurgents attacked one of their bases. He said he was not aware of any casualties.
    Scores were injured in the attacks which happened on a busy day in the market.
    "We were going about our daily business in Bakara market when the mortars began to strike. There have been many deaths and many wounded. I managed to escape the mortars. I am sorry for the difficulty people are facing here in Mogadishu," said Mohamed Ali, a resident of Mogadishu.
    The international community wants to bolster President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's fragile U.N.-backed government, which controls only parts of the country's arid central region and a few districts of the coastal capital.
    Violence in Somalia has killed more than 18,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven 1.5 million from their homes.
    In northern Mogadishu, al Shabaab rebels, who the United States says are al Qaeda's proxies in Somalia, executed two men charged with spying for the government and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in connection with the U.S. killing of a senior al Qaeda suspect earlier this month.
    Islamic courts run by al Shabaab members have ordered executions, floggings and amputations before, mostly in Kismayu.
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