Bartamaha (Nairobi):- A SOMALI soldier fired a machine gun into a Mogadishu crowd on Monday, killing at least 17 civilians as the African Union said the government had failed to impose authority and deliver stability.
The soldier triggered a high-calibre anti-aircraft gun mounted atop a truck, and a hail of bullets ripped into the crowd in southern Mogadishu, capital of the Horn of Africa state where an Islamist insurrection is threatening to topple the fragile UN-backed government.
Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Madina hospital in southern Mogadishu, said 56 people were also wounded.
‘There was a disaster in Mogadishu today. We have received around 56 injured people, 12 dead bodies and five others died of their injuries at the hospital,’ Mr Yusuf told reporters.
Defence Minister Abdihakin Mohamed Fiqi promised government assistance to the wounded and said the perpetrator would be brought to justice.
‘On behalf of the Somali government, the president, his prime minister and the speaker, we are very sorry about the sad incident.’ Fiqi said at the hospital. ‘We will help the wounded and promise to bring those behind the brutal killing to justice,’ he added
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Source:- AFP
