Shelling in Mogadishu as 20 Civilians are Massacred

Hezbal Islam militants

At least 20 civilians have been killed and nearly 50 others were wounded during exchange of mortar shells between Somali government forces and Islamist militants later on Thursday, witnesses and medical sources confirmed. Most of the civilians casualties occurred in the villages of Towfik and Suqbacad north of the city after government troops reacted to militants who fired from the areas toward positions of government forces. A resident in the Suqbacad village told Newstime Africa by telephone that he witnessed the deaths of 9 civilians including seven from one family who were cut into small pieces after a mortar hit their home.“I realy became very shocked after witnessing the sorrowful incidence” he said on the phone.

Al Musse Sheik the head of Lifeline Africa-Nation link telecom ambulance services told reporters in Mogadishu on Thursday evening that he saw 11 bodies and his medical staff collected 47 wounded civilians from different villages in the Yaqshid district north of the city. Somali police spokesman colonel Abdullahi Hassan Barise accused the militants of being responsible for the civilian casualties, while spokesman for the Hezbal Islam militants Mohamed Osman Arus denied the accusation and instead accused the government of deliberately shelling on civilian populated areas.

Mostly the innocent civilians take the brunt of fighting and lawlessness in Somali capital where more than 20,000 civilians were killed since January 2007. More than 1.5 millions have also fled from their homes in the restive capital since then,

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