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9 killed in Somali bomb attacks
13/12/2007 13:33 - (SA)
Mogadishu - Mortar bombs killed at least nine people in the Somali capital Mogadishu's busy Bakara Market
on Thursday in the latest attack blamed on Islamist rebels,
witnesses said.
A driver, Osman Abdulahi, said: "A mortar shell exploded inside Bakara, killing two women and seven men. Several others were bleeding and lying on the ground."
Bakara is the main place for residents to shop in Somalia's capital and is notorious for its open-air gun market.
Conflict in Somalia has killed nearly 6 000 civilians in
Mogadishu this year forced some 720 000 others from their homes, according to a local human rights group.
Rebels attacked neighbourhoods
The United Nations says Somalia's humanitarian crisis is the worst in Africa and has appealed for $406m in aid.
Islamist insurgents have been fighting the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies since they were ousted from the capital in a short war a year ago.
Witnesses said the rebels attacked several neighbourhoods in
north and south Mogadishu in the early hours of Thursday, but
there were no immediate reports of fatalities.
The interim government is the 14th attempt at setting up
central rule in Somalia since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was
overthrown in 1991, plunging the country into anarchy.
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