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| Africa Horn |
| Five children die in Mogadishu shelling |
| 2008-07-21 |
| (Xinhua) -- Nearly seven civilians including five school children have been killed and almost 12 others were wounded Sunday after artillery shells and bullets hit residential areas in Mogadishu following renewed fighting between insurgent fighters and Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops, witnesses and local media reports said. Five school children from the same family were killed in Gubta neighborhood shells hit them as they left their schools while eight others were injured, witnesses said. "Three children died when a shell hit as they entered their home," an eyewitness in Gubta who requested anonymity told Xinhua. "More than eight other people were injured in our neighborhood shells rained all over the place." Another witness Mohamed Musse confirmed the figure but added that two more children from the same Quranic School died when a shell landed close to where they were. Residents said shelling started shortly after the children were released from schools in the neighborhood. Local media reported that two young men died in Yaqshid district in the northwest of the Somali capital and four others were seriously wounded after they were hit by stray bullets from the battle between Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops and rebel fighters. Somali transitional government officials told local media that the insurgent fighters attacked bases of the government forces and those of the Ethiopian troops in northwest Mogadishu. They denied insurgent allegation that the Ethiopian troops shelled residential areas after the attack. Spokesman for fighters of the Union of the Islamic Courts Union said they launched "concerted attacks" on Somali government and Ethiopian army posts and claimed to have caused "huge loses" on them. |
| Posted by:Fred |