From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Oct 07 2008 - 11:06:29 EDT
Mortar rounds hit market in Somalia, 17 killed
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY
Oct 7, 2008
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Mortar rounds slammed into a market in
Somalia's capital on Monday, killing at least 17 people, after a failed
insurgent attack on the presidential palace.
Also Monday, a
remote-controlled land mine killed a Somali driver and wounded two aid
workers — an Italian and a Somali — some 60 miles southwest of
Mogadishu. The aid workers' injuries were not critical, Dr. Abdi Rahman
said.
Witnesses said those killed in the capital included a
13-year-old. The fighting began when insurgents fired mortars at the
presidential palace but missed, according to military spokesman Dahir
Hersi.
Al-Shabab, a radical Islamic group at the heart of the Somali insurgency, claimed responsibility for the initial attack.
Mortar
shells then slammed into the Bakara Market, where people can buy
everything from packets of rice and sugar to grenades and AK-47s. The
government suspects insurgents use the market as a base and it often
comes under fire.
Twenty-four humanitarian workers have been
killed in Somalia this year. On Monday, 52 aid groups issued a joint
statement calling for international help for the devastated people.
"The
international community has completely failed Somali civilians," the
statement said. It appealed to the warring sides to allow aid workers
unhindered access to all parts of Somalia.
"The poorest of
Mogadishu's residents have no means to flee the extreme violence and
have limited means to earn a living, leaving them completely dependent
on humanitarian assistance," the statement said.
Somalia is among
the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some
8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords
overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.
A quarter
of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution
has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths
reported nearly every day.
Islamic militants with ties to
al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies
since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in
December 2006.
Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched
an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.
In recent
months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has
taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and
dismantled pro-government roadblocks.
They also effectively closed the
Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.
Elizabeth Kennedy reported from Nairobi, Kenya.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD93L7HIO4
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