Shelling in Somali capital leaves eight dead

September 08, 2009

Eight people were killed and more than 21 others wounded on Monday in heavy artillery exchange between Islamist rebels and Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers in the country's capital of Mogadishu, a medical official and witnesses said. The latest escalation in the fighting in the restive Somali capital came as both the Somali government and rebels traded bitter war of words for the past several days as each was gearing for a possible showdown in the control of Mogadishu. "We have so far taken 21 wounded people to the various health centers around the city while our staff also reported seeing the bodies of eight civilians killed by the shelling," Ali Muse, a paramedic with a local voluntary ambulance service told Xinhua. Muse said he expected the causality figures to rise as ambulance teams found it difficulty to get to the injured as night fell in the city which has no sufficient lighting on its streets. Witness in districts in the south and north of the capital said several stray shells landed in residential areas as people prepared to break their daylong fasting in ongoing holy month of Ramadan. "We heard heavy gunfire and then shelling on our neighborhood and then the siren of the ambulances," said a resident who asked for anonymity because he feared for his life. Recent reports in the local media about a change in the mandate of the nearly 5,000 African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces from Uganda and Burundi resulted in responses of welcoming and condemnation from warring sides in Somalia. The Somali government applauded the alleged move by the AU to change the mandate of its forces in Somalia to allow them to fight rebel forces who in turn condemned the AU's reported measure. Source: Xinhua