Bartamaha (Nairobi);- At least nine civilians were killed and 53 wounded when mortar fire hit a camp for displaced people in Mogadishu during fighting between Islamists and government forces, sources said.

The clashes erupted late Monday when Islamist fighters attacked government positions to the south of the capital, sparking a heavy exchange of artillery fire between the insurgents and government troops backed by African Union forces.

“Our teams picked up nine civilians killed in the fighting and 53 wounded,” Ali Muse Mohamud, the head of the Mogadishu ambulance service, told AFP.

“There are a lot of casualties because the fighting started without any warning while people were preparing to break their ramadan fast,” he said.

The majority of the dead and wounded lived in a camp for displaced people in the south of the city, far from the districts that normally see fighting. Most were hit by mortar fire on the camp.

Insurgents from the al-Qaeda inspired Shebab group control most of southern Somalia. They are pitted against troops of the transitional government who control a few districts of Mogadishu with the backing of some 6,000 AU peacekeepers from Uga nda and Burundi.

—————————–

Source:- Timeslive.mortar

Comments

comments