Many die in Mogadishu mortar attack

[Gar-haye]

Many die in Mogadishu mortar attack

 

 

The attack struck one of Mogadishu's

busiest markets [AFP]

 

 

At least 13 people have been killed in a mortar attack on a busy market in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

 

Another 40 people were injured when a shell exploded inside the Bakara market, one of the main shopping centres in the city, on Thursday.

 

 

The attack comes after a government official said rebels fighting the government had regrouped and were planning a large-scale attack.

 

 

Conflict in Somalia has killed nearly 6,000 civilians in Mogadishu this year and 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 in aid.

 

Support plea

 

Fighters have been repeatedly clashing with the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies since the Islamic Courts and its allies were forced from the capital a year ago in a short war.

 

Before the attack, Sheik Qasim Ibrahim Nur, the director of security at the national security ministry, said the government has "no power to resist the Islamists" and was failing to control most of the country.

"About 80 per cent of Somalia is not safe and is not under control of the government," Nur told the AP news agency.

 

Nur also appealed for international support, saying the Islamists "are everywhere".

 

Witnesses said the fighters attacked several neighbourhoods in north and south Mogadishu in the early hours of Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities.

[Gar-haye]

At Least 12 Dead in Mogadishu Shelling

By SALAD DUHUL – 3 hours ago

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Mortars slammed into the biggest market in Mogadishu on Thursday, killing at least 12 people hours after a government official warned radical Muslims had regrouped and were poised to launch a massive attack.

 

More than 40 people were wounded in the blasts in the Somali capital and the death toll was expected to rise from the latest bloodshed blamed on Islamist insurgents.

 

"I saw so many dead people lying on the road, I couldn't even look at them. I was so scared for my life," said Salah Garweyne, a Mogadishu resident.

 

At least 40 people were taken to Medina Hospital, and two died on arrival, said Dr. Hassan Osman Isse. Nineteen were in critical condition.

 

Before the attack, Sheik Qasim Ibrahim Nur, director of security at the National Security Ministry, said the government has "no power to resist the Islamists" and was failing to control most of the country.

 

"About 80 percent of Somalia is not safe and is not under control of the government," Nur told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. "Islamists are planning to launch a massive attack against the (government) and its allied troops."

 

Nur appealed for international support, saying the Islamists "are everywhere."

 

Presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud confirmed that the Muslim group was gaining power, saying: "It is true that the Islamists are regrouping." He added that they have "a lot of weapons and foreign fighters."

 

The comments — a rare acknowledgment by the government that its control is tenuous at best — come amid increasing signs that the Council of Islamic Courts is again gaining power in this Horn of Africa nation.

 

The group, which controlled the capital and much of southern Somalia for six months, was driven from power last year, when Ethiopia sent crucial military reinforcements, including soldiers and fighter jets. The operation had the tacit approval of the United States, which accuses the group of having links to al-Qaida.

 

Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment Thursday.

 

The Islamists have launched an Iraq-style insurgency, throwing this already beleaguered nation into bloody chaos. The country is now facing what the United Nations says is the biggest humanitarian crisis in Africa, and a local aid group says some 6,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting this year.

 

Somalia has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991, and then turned on one another. The current government, led by President Abdullahi Yusuf, was formed in 2004 with the support of the U.N., but has struggled to assert any real control.

 

Associated Press Writers Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.