SOMALIA: Mogadishu mortar attack mourners

Record ID: 352458

  • Title: SOMALIA: Mogadishu mortar attack mourners
  • Date: 8th December 2009
  • Summary: BODIES INCLUDING A MOTHER AND HER TWO CHILDREN/ PEOPLE PREPARING THEM FOR FUNERAL
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVACKZNRSLP4TH5JH2V85O7LQ6IV
  • Story Text: At least 10 people were killed and a dozen others injured on Sunday (December 06) when mortar bombs hit a residential area of the capital, Mogadishu.
    Islamist fighters and Somali government forces had been fighting at the time when the mortars struck but it was not clear where the mortars that fell in the residential area came from, witnesses said.
    The fighting happened just two days after a suicide bomb went off at a graduation ceremony in the capital, killing several people including three ministers.
    "It was yesterday evening when the mortars started to hit our village here in Suuqba'ad. More than ten people were killed in our village including a mother and her two children. Since this morning ambulances have been taking many wounded civilians to Mogadishu hospital. most of the victims were our neighbours who fled from their houses to this house to hide from the mortars," said Mowlid Mohamed, a resident of Suuqba'd.
    Following the attacks, several residents fled the area.
    On Sunday, Somalia's government appointed new heads for its police and the military to tackle numerous security challenges facing the conflict-torn Horn of Africa nation.
    The suicide attack on Thursday heightened concerns about the lawless state's ability to destabilise the whole region.
    Fighting in Somalia has killed over 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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