[dehai-news] (AFP) At least 29 civilians killed in Mogadishu bloodshed


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From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2008 - 12:14:03 EDT


At least 29 civilians killed in Mogadishu bloodshed
Sept 22, 2008

MOGADISHU (AFP) — At least 29 civilians were killed and more than 60
wounded in a fresh round of mortar exchanges in central Mogadishu, one
of the deadliest series of incidents in months, residents told AFP
Monday.
The latest bloodshed in the Somali capital came hours
after the country's transitional federal government and the main
Islamist-dominated political opposition closed a new round of talks in
Djibouti.
In the first set of exchanges overnight, the insurgents
attacked the bases of the African Union's Ugandan troops in the K4 and
Jazeera areas at around midnight, drawing retaliatory fire from the
peacekeepers.
Ugandan peacekeepers fired back, but during the
exchange, said witnesses, some stray mortars hit residences in nearby
neighbourhoods, killing 10 civilians.
"A mother and her five
children died when a mortar hit their house," said Mohamed Husein, an
elder in the area. "Minutes later, two neighbours who rushed to assist
them died in the same house after another shell struck."
Witnesses also told AFP that two guards were killed by stray mortar shells in the capital's Taleh neighbourhood.
It was not clear from the witnesses' accounts whose mortars caused the deaths.
Later
Monday, 19 other people died when a fresh exchange of mortar fire
erupted near Mogadishu airport, where an extremist militia group has
been trying to enforce an embargo on all flights.
This time the deaths were caused by shells fired from Somali government bases, witnesses said.
Insurgents had fired shells on the airport area after a commercial plane landed there, in defiance of the week-old "ban".
Somali
government forces responded with mortar fire that struck several
civilian homes and a busy market area, witnesses told AFP.
"Nine
civilians, three of them children, died after artillery shells fired
from Somali government bases hit three houses in Holwadag
neighbourhood. Some of the bodies were torn to shreds," local resident
Mohamed Aden Ahmed said.
Another resident, Ahmed Abdullahi, said four of the nine victims in Holwadag were from the same family.
Mortar shells also came smashing into Bakara market, the Somali capital's main trading area, killing 10 other people.
"I
saw the bodies of six people who were killed near Bakara intersection.
They were hit by mortar shells that landed in the market," local
resident Ibrahim Yusuf said.
Shells struck another part of the market, killing another four people, witnesses said."Heavy
artillery shells hit the shoe section of the market. Four civilians
were blown to pieces," said Feisal Hashi, adding that one of the
victims was a woman.
Dahir Dhere, director of Mogadishu's main
Madina hospital, said more than 60 wounded civilians had been rushed in
following the latest incident.
Somalia's Al-Shebab movement last
week warned that all flights should cease as of September 16, arguing
that the airport was an instrument of Ethiopia's military occupation of
Somalia.
Nine civilians were killed last week when the landing of
an AU military plane drew a salvo of mortar shells from insurgents and
retaliatory fire from the Ugandans.
The airport is used for both commercial and military flights but is also the main base for the AU's Ugandan contingent.
With
war-torn Somalia's roads dotted with rogue checkpoints and freelance
gunmen and its waters infested with pirates, traders have warned the
airport's closure would only further stifle an already agonising nation.
Ethiopian
troops came to the rescue of the transitional government in late 2006
and ousted an Islamist militia that briely controlled large parts of
the country.
Islamist armed groups then reverted to guerilla
warfare, launching almost daily attacks against Somali forces,
Ethiopian troops and AU peacekeepers.
Civilians have borne the
brunt of the violence. According to international aid organisations and
rights groups, at least 6,000 of them have died over the past year
alone.
On Sunday, representatives from the transitional
government and the main political opposition umbrella group -- the
Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia -- signed a statement in
Djibouti.
They agreed to jointly pursue efforts to restore security in Somalia and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Radical
elements from the Islamist camp have dismissed the Djibouti process,
insisting that a complete Ethiopian withdrawal was a precondition to
any negotiations.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHx6yuQc0N01riAO5lnQoqjwTcBw

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