12 Somali Civilians Killed by Mogadishu Shelling

Middle East online, February 1, 2010

  Heavy mortar fire between AU peacekeepers, Shabab fighters in Somali capital kills dozen of civilians.

  MOGADISHU -

Heavy mortar fire between African Union peacekeepers and Shabab fighters killed at least 12 civilians and left scores wounded in the Somali capital, officials and medics said Monday.

AU forces fired several mortars into areas of north Mogadishu in retaliation for artillery attacks by the rebels late Sunday.

"Our team collected eight bodies of civilians who were killed in the shelling and 55 others who were injured, some of them seriously," said Ali Musa, the head of the war-ravaged city's ambulance service.

Witness Abdulahi Nure said four other civilians were killed by the artillery fire in another neighbourhood.

A police official accused the rebels of using the civilian population as human shields.

"They (Shabab fighters) fired mortar shells from the civilian populated areas using them as human shields," the official said on condition of anonymity.

One witness, Moahmed Aban Ilbir, said around 20 heavy artillery shells hit the district of Suqaholaha.

"We are still shocked at this indiscriminate shelling," he said.

At least 10 people were killed on Friday when the Al Qaeda-inspired rebels, known at the Shabab, fired a barrage of mortar shells at a ceremony to mark the first year of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's shaky rule.

The Shabab and Hezb al-Islam, another militia, launched a fiery offensive against the government last May, vowing to overthrow it as well as drive out the AU force, a regular target for their attacks.

Sharif's government controls just a few streets in Mogadishu with the help of the AU peacekeeping mission, an under strength force yet to attain the intended capacity of 8,000 troops.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon ruled out any deployment of UN peacekeepers in Somalia until the end of the country's years of civil war.

"Practically and realistically it is not possible at this time to deploy a UN peacekeeping force in Somalia," he told reporters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday. "We need a peace to keep and now there is no peace." The AU has called several times on the UN to take over from its own beleaguered peacekeepers, which have been powerless to stop contain the advance of the Islamist rebels against a weak transitional government.