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2 hurt in Somali mortar attacks
26/01/2007 10:42 - (SA)
Mogadishu - At least two people, including a teenage girl, were wounded by a barrage of mortar shells fired on a neighbourhood in Somalia, said residents on Friday.
They said the attacks on the Medina neighborhood damaged a house, a school and a mosque, spreading panic among residents.
Median resident Mohamed Ali Nur said: "Two mortar shells landed on a house very close to ours, although only two people were wounded. We do not know who fired the shells."
Nur said there were no Ethiopian or Somali government forces in the area at the time of the attack. The joint forces ousted a coalition of Islamist hardliners from the capital late last month and had come under attack on a number of occasions since then.
'Shell landed inside our house'
Nur added: "People are very worried about these incidents." A relative of the 15-year-old girl who was injured also described the mortar shelling.
The teenager, Muhubo Dahir, said: "We heard an explosion outside our house and then, minutes later, another shell landed inside our house and slightly wounded."
Another resident said that the security forces were combing the area and had questioned a number of people.
Amina Ismail said: "I was informed by the neighbours that the men who fired the mortars came by a car and fled the area after the attack. Somali policemen have gone to the area and are carrying out interrogations.
"We would like to give them all the information we have, but unfortunately, we do not know the identity of the attack, their motives and target."
Residents had reported a surge in crime in Mogadishu since the Islamists were ousted after a six-month rule during, which they managed to restore a degree of order in a city without an effective central authority for 16 years.
In a further sign of the unraveling security situation, at least two people were killed overnight by criminals. One victim had been shot three times in the head while the second was also shot dead by unknown gunmen.
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