“These two militant groups have on occasions refused to accept the proposed peace talks in order to restore comprehensive peace and stability across the country.

“They go on with their militant attacks which have left Somalia in a complete shambles and claimed many civilian lives,” a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu quoted Mohamed Abdullahi Omar as saying at the presidential palace on Thursday.

Over 34 civilians have lost their lives and many more sustained injuries over the last 24 hours in several neighborhoods of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Seventeen people were killed on Thursday after several mortar shells landed in and around the Bakara market — the biggest and busiest market in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, four people were killed instantly as a roadside bomb targeted an African Union convoy near Suq Ba’ad market. Ten other people were killed in the ensuing clashes, Radio Garowe reported

Heavy fighting between Somali government forces and al-Shabab fighters also left 3 civilians dead and 7 others wounded in Bondere and Shibis districts of northern Mogadishu.

In a recent report, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that hundreds of civilians have been injured in fighting in Somalia in recent months.

The Geneva-based humanitarian institution said that a total of 5,000 patients with war injuries, including 1,900 women and children, were admitted to Mogadishu’s Keysaney and Medina hospitals from January through September.

This is a 25 percent increase in the total number of war casualties and a 72 percent climb in the number of war-wounded women and children admitted to the hospitals compared to last year.

Source: Press TV

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. Over 300,000 of the IDPs are sheltered in Mogadishu.

Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions in makeshift camp sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

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Source:- Press TV.

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