Insurgents fired mortars at a plane that was due to take Somalia's president to Djibouti, but he was unharmed and travelled to a meeting with a U.N. security council delegation, officials and residents said on Sunday. President Abdullahi Yusuf was due to meet the delegation in Djibouti, where his interim government and opposition exiles living in Eritrea are participating in U.N.-backed peace talks. He was not due to take part in the talks, which started a day late on Sunday."The president and delegates have left ... The Islamists failed to achieve their goal and the mortars did not damage the plane," presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud said.
An airport staff member told Reuters the mortars were aimed at a plane arriving to take Yusuf to the talks in Djibouti. "Around five mortars landed in the airport and people ran into the concrete building," the staff member said.
U.N. officials met the government and Islamist delegations separately, witnesses in Djibouti said.