Region | Somalia
11 civilians killed amid Somali insurgents violence
Islamist insurgents attacked an African peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, leaving 11 civilians dead, witnesses said on Wednesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 12:12 September 24, 2008
Mogadishu: Islamist insurgents attacked an African peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, leaving 11 civilians dead, witnesses said on Wednesday.
The violence, extreme even by the standards of Somalia's 17-year civil conflict, sent residents fleeing the city.
"We have no hope now and I think this is the end of Mogadishu," mother-of-seven Fatuma Kassim said, joining a stream of Somalis escaping the city on Wednesday morning.
The coastal capital shook for several hours on Tuesday night as insurgents shelled an African Union (AU) peacekeeping base from various sides, prompting heavy return fire and tank incursions into a market area viewed as a rebel stronghold.
In recent days, Islamists fighters have focused attacks against the AU peacekeepers in what analysts say may be a tactic to deter any further foreign intervention. The Islamists view the AU force as propping up the government.
Islamist spokesman Abdirahim Isse Adow said Tuesday night's attack on the AU was retribution for the shelling of a market earlier in the week, which he blamed on the peacekeepers.
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