SOMALIA: Mortar attack on Somali market kills two

Record ID: 353567

  • Title: SOMALIA: Mortar attack on Somali market kills two
  • Date: 21st December 2008
  • Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (DECEMBER 20, 2008) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENE) FLASHES OF LIGHT AND SOUNDS OF OVERNIGHT ATTACK ON BAKARA MARKET DAYLIGHT SCENES VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING IN FRONT OF HOTEL HIT BY MORTAR VARIOUS OF AFTERMATH OF ATTACK VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GOING THROUGH DAMAGED SHOPS SALVAGING DAMAGED GOODS
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVACF6AMFNA8PRPSZDW2UPJ6LXXQ
  • Story Text: An overnight exchange of fire between Islamist insurgents and Somali government troops at a market in the capital Mogadishu killed two people, residents and witnesses said on Saturday (December 20).
    Insurgents control the south of Somalia and carry out near-daily Iraqi-style assassinations and roadside bombings on government troops and their Ethiopian allies in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation.
    Residents said there was a heavy exchange of fire as insurgents opened fire on local troops patrolling neighbourhoods in the Bakara market late on Friday and the government soldiers responded with heavy weapons.
    Resident Ali Hashi told Reuters the mortar exchanges killed two people as they went near a hotel in the market.

    "There were two men one was going to the toilet and the other was praying. A mortar fell into a hotel with a very big explosion," said Hashi.
    Eight people were also wounded.
    The Islamic Courts were driven from the capital two years ago by Somali and Ethiopian forces.
    Ethiopia said last month it would pull its troops out of Somalia by a December 19 deadline but officials now say they will leave by the end of the year and there are fears the country could descend further into anarchy unless more peacekeepers are sent soon.
    The fractured Western-backed administration controls only Mogadishu and the seat of parliament, Baidoa, and the insurgents are camped on the outskirts of the capital.
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