SOMALIA: Fighting kills scores in Mogadishu

Record ID: 375239

  • Title: SOMALIA: Fighting kills scores in Mogadishu
  • Date: 11th February 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CROWD LOOKING AT DEAD BODIES
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GYUSEHZ804E5ZRMYYG6EM9GX
  • Story Text: At least 4 civilians were killed on Wednesday (February 10) as thousands of civilians fled the Somali capital fearing a government offensive against attacking islamist rebels.
    Hardline Islamist insurgents also launched mortar shells at the presidential palace, prompting African Union (AU) guards there to respond with a deafening barrage of artillery.
    Violence has killed at least 21,000 people in the failed Horn of Africa nation since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes, helping trigger one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
    Rebels from the hardline al Shabaab group, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, routinely fire at the hilltop Villa Somali palace from other parts of Mogadishu. Troops at the palace often launch shells back.
    Residents said several bombs struck the city's Bakara market
    "I was there when the mortar hit. There was a crowd of people hiding from the Mortars. After the mortar hit, I saw some of them dead and others were wounded. I was not able to differentiate between the dead and the wounded because there were many people in the market.," said Fadumo Kulaneh a Mogadishu resident.
    The failed Horn of Africa state has had no effective central government for 19 years and the U.N.-backed administration of President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif controls just parts of the city.
    Western security agencies say Somalia has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who use it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
    Uganda and Burundi both have some 2,500 peacekeepers in Mogadishu with the AMISOM force that is protecting sites and Somalia's fragile Western-backed government.
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