Bloomberg
Monday, January 31, 2011
The shots were fired after soldiers killed a policeman in plain clothes, who they thought was carrying a pistol, said Hassan Mohamed Abukar, a police officer. Other police arrived at the scene and during the ensuing conflict, the soldier opened fire “accidentally, killing dozens of people on the spot,” Abukar said by phone today.
Dr. Mohamed Yusuf Hassan, director of Medina Hospital, confirmed the number killed and wounded by phone. Somalia’s Defense Minister Abdihakin Mohamed Fiqi, visited the wounded in the hospital, pledging to “bring those who are responsible for this incident into court.”
--Editors: Emily Bowers, Alan Crosby.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at [email protected].