Artillery battles between insurgents, Somali government forces and African Union (AU) peacekeepers killed at least 30 people in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, residents and medical workers said. Witnesses said the rebels launched volleys of mortar bombs at the heavily guarded international airport as President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed left for a summit in Uganda, prompting AU soldiers there to respond with artillery fire. Ahmed was not hurt, but medical sources and residents said at least 30 people were killed and scores more injured in one of the heaviest exchanges to rock the lawless city for weeks.
Farah Olow, a shopkeeper in the sprawling Bakara market, told Reuters by telephone that six people were killed by one shell that demolished a home there. "They were taking cover in a concrete building, but such big shells can penetrate the strongest house. We can't go out to count how many more are dead. Bombs are raining on us," he said. Bakara, which is notorious for its open-air weapons bazaar, has long been viewed by the government and the AU force AMISOM as a stronghold of hardline Al Shabaab insurgents.
An AMISOM spokesman declined to discuss the details of Thursday's clashes, but said the rebels were deluded if they thought the peacekeepers could bomb them into submission. "The insurgents are day-dreaming and practicing wishful thinking," Major Barigye Ba-hoku told Reuters. Al Shabaab commanders and the group's spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.