Wednesday, May 27, 2009
"There were rounds of mortar shells that killed seven civilians near the former national theatre where our forces are stationed but there were no casualties on our side, all of them hit civilian areas," Colonel Farhan Mahdi said.
"I saw around five dead civilians in one building; they were not from the same family but lived together in the apartment and two others died near the theatre," in the southern district, said Ahmed Osman, a witness.
Another witness Farah Mohamed said a young girl figured among the dead.
Somali government forces responded with mortar shells that hit the northern Suqbacad surburb, killing one and injuring three.
"A mortar shell struck near a shop and killed one civilian and wounded three others," Ali Gutale said, a Suqbacad resident said.
Fighting in Somalia has intensified with radical Islamist militants trying to rout fighters of a fledgling transitional government in the Horn of African nation.
Somali extremists launched their offensive against the transitional federal government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on May 7, and have maintained their positions in Mogadishu in trenches along streets near the presidential palace.
They anti-government Islamists consist mainly of fighters from the Shebab, a homegrown radical group whose leaders are suspected of links to Al-Qaeda, and the Hezb al-Islamiya, another armed organization loyal to hardline opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys Aweys.
Source: AFP, May 27, 2009