By Aweys Yusuf
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Mortar bombs killed at least nine people in the Somali capital Mogadishu's busy Bakara Market on Thursday in the latest attack blamed on Islamist rebels, witnesses said.
"A mortar shell exploded inside Bakara, killing two women and seven men. Several others were bleeding and lying on the ground," Osman Abdulahi, a driver, told Reuters.
Bakara is the main place for residents to shop in Somalia's capital, and is notorious for its open-air gun market.
Conflict in Somalia has killed nearly 6,000 civilians in Mogadishu this year forced some 720,000 others from their homes, according to a local human rights group.
The United Nations says Somalia's humanitarian crisis is the worst in Africa and has appealed for $406 million (199 million pounds) in aid.
Islamist insurgents are fighting the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies since they were ousted from the capital a year ago in a short war.
Witnesses said the rebels attacked several neighbourhoods in north and south Mogadishu in the early hours of Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities.
The interim government is the 14th attempt at setting up central rule in Somalia since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, plunging the country into anarchy.
(Editing by Wangui Kanina)
Source: Reuters, December 13, 2007