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Somalia: Six reported dead in attack on peace conference
(AKI) - Six people were reported to have been killed in an attack by Islamic militants on a reconciliation conference in the Somalian capital Mogadishu on Thursday.
An attack on a peace conference. Boy, howdy, you don't get much more Islamic than that.
According to local radio station, Shabelle, five youths and an elderly woman died after being hit by mortar fire fired at a residential area close to the meeting building. The young victims were killed while playing football on the street in front of their houses. At least six rockets hit the ground a few minutes after the conference finished in heavy fighting. Shabelle radio said as well as the six killed, several people were injured.

The opening ceremony of the conference was interrupted last Sunday when men from the group known as Mujahadeen Youth fired rockets and grenades at the building where the conference was being held. It was immediately postponed to give some of the more than 1,000 delegates from Somalia's dozens of clans more time to arrive. Images of the attack were recorded on a video which has since been distributed on several Somali Islamic sites.

The main Islamist opposition has refused to attend, saying the venue is not neutral, while Ethiopian troops remain in the country. Ethiopia helped government troops oust Islamists from Mogadishu last December. But Somalia has been without a functioning government for 16 years and there are fears that the current government which is a UN creation, has little grass roots support and may be on the brink of collapse.

Posted by: Fred 2007-07-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=193980