Mogadishu, Somalia: A medical official says 16 civilians have been killed after Islamic insurgents attacked a building where Somalia's parliament was meeting.
Abdullahi Hassan Barise, the police spokesman, says no legislator was killed or wounded in the attack by Islamic insurgents.
Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, says his staff counted 16 bodies and that 31 wounded people were taken to the hospital.
It was the first time lawmakers have tried to meet this year because of threats from the Al Qaida-linked Al Shabab group. Somalia has not had an effective parliament or government for the past 19 years.
Islamist insurgents, who have fought a three-year war against the fragile interim government, launched their attack from their stronghold in Mogadishu's main Bakara market, triggering return shellfire from African Union peacekeepers.
A police source said some rebel mortars landed near the parliament, which last met in December, but there were no direct hits.
Parliament business has been paralysed this year, with many legislators living in Kenya, Europe and America because of security fears. The chamber has also been split by a bitter feud over the term of the chamber's speaker.
One lawmaker said the chamber would hold a vote of confidence on the government, a vote which could in principle force the government's resignation.
President Shaikh Sharif Ahmad has failed to deliver on the hope he would be able to unite some of the country's warring factions.
