- Title: SOMALIA: More dead as al-Shabaab push towards presidential palace
- Date: 1st September 2010
- Summary: VARIOUS OF WOUNDED CIVILIANS RECEIVING TREATMENT AT THE HOSPITAL
- Embargoed: 16th September 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Somalia
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAWWQ1WG142GMBUL1A2ZT5BWPI
- Story Text: A day after four Ugandan peacekeepers were killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Islamic militia pounded the presidential palace with mortars killing civilians who were caught in between.
Six civilians were killed in a separate shelling incident between AU troops and fighters of the al-Shabaab Islamist group in the north of the city, witness said.
Uganda and Burundi have deployed more than 6,300 troops in the anarchic Horn of Africa country to guard the port and airport and shield President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed from attack.
Residential areas build near the main market are mostly destroyed when both sides fire mortar shells leaving civilian casualties.
"A mortar landed here and the result was that two people were killed and our building totally destroyed," said Ali Dinih who lost two of his family members and his house got destroyed.
Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab has vowed to intensify its holy war against the U.N.-backed government which it denounces as a puppet of the West.
Political analysts say the presence of foreign troops in Somalia allows militants to pose as nationalist champions with a mandate for the kind of devastating attacks such as last week's.
The AU said it had reinforced security on the strategic Maka Al Mukaaram road, which runs from the centre of Mogadishu near the presidential palace to the port.
The peacekeepers have been able to do little more than guard the airport and port and shield President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
The insurgents, who control much of the capital and large areas in central and south Somalia, have attracted foreign fighters to the lawless country.
The ever present threat from Somalia to its fast-growing neighbours was highlighted last month by al Shabaab suicide bombings which killed 70 people in Uganda, which provides the bulk of the African Union force. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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