Six killed in Mogadishu hospital mortar blast

MOGADISHU — A stray mortar shell fired by extremist insurgents struck a hospital for army veterans in Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least six people and wounding 12, Somali police and witnesses said.The mortar smashed into the hospital compound as a group of disabled veterans were chatting outside the main building before the iftar meal breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast observed during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan."There was a mortar attack by the violent groups against the seaport this afternoon and we are getting information that six people died inside Martini hospital," Mohamed Abdiazis, a Somali policeman at the nearby seaport told AFP.
"Several mortar rounds hit near the seaport and the main jail but the worst incident occurred inside the hospital where I saw disabled people in wheelchairs with severe shrapnel wounds," eyewitness Hasan Moalim Ali said.The Shebab, an Al Qaeda-inspired group, and the more political Hezb al-Islam launched a deadly military offensive against the internationally-backed Somali government on May 7.The fighting has focused on southwestern areas and the capital Mogadishu, where clashes often occur in densely-populated areas, killing hundreds and displacing a quarter of a million in four months.http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g2KUeLvOLTjpOjTVbZX89FXaj8gw