20100413
africanews

At least 22 civilians were killed on Monday and 55 others were wounded after mortars and artillery shells hit the capital Mogadishu, sources said.

The deadly battle erupted after Islamist insurgents fired at main airport in the capital, where Africa Union peacekeepers and the presidency building is based during a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s national army.

The African union peacekeepers and government forces patrolling the presidential palace returned mortars and artillery shells hit civilian’s area in the capital of the East Africa nation.

A resident Abdi hakim Mudey told AfricaNews that the clashes was the worst shelling in recent months and described as indiscriminate shelling.

Ali Muse, director of Mogadishu's ambulance service, has confirmed the collection of about 16 civilians and over 55 injured as he was busying collecting casualties.

A local journalist Abdullahi Yasin has quoted police officers that two remote controlled roadside bombs had killed four civilians and two police officers.

Al Qaeda linked group of Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the two roadside bomb which was aimed at an AU convoy and said seven AU peacekeepers and five Somali forces have died after the attack.

Medical sources believed that death toll has increased after some of the wounded people died in the hospitals.

The Al-shabaab hardliners linked to Al-Qaeda controls most of southern Somalia while the weak Somali government backed by western countries runs only a little of the country, including the airport.

The insurgents frequently fire mortars to bases of the AU peacekeeping forces and Somali weak government but AU and government forces react in the areas controlled by the rebel group.

The fighting in Somalia has killed over 20,000 Somalis since 2007 and displaced another 1.5 million. Somalia is one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.