Hezb al-Islam, the Party of Islam, kills African peacekeepers. Will the Islamophobia never end? “Eight civilians killed in Mogadishu clashes,” from AFP, September 23 (thanks to James):
MOGADISHU — At least eight civilians were killed in Mogadishu when Islamist insurgents attacked African peacekeepers prompting an exchange of gun and artillery fire that hit civilian targets, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday.
The fighting erupted on Tuesday in southern Mogadishu’s Maka Al-Mukarama road where the African peacekeepers from Uganda are stationed but it later spilled over into other areas.
“The terrorists who never tire of violence attacked the peacekeepers with rocket propelled grenades and mortars but they were pushed back to their positions,” Colonel Mohamed Abdi Alin, a Somali government security officer, said on Wednesday.
“We got information indicating there were civilian casualties; some people died in the crossfire — more than five,” he added.
Witnesses also confirmed the civilian fatalities in southern Mogadishu neighbourhoods.
“Five people died in Holwadag and seven others were injured when a mortar shell struck their houses,” one witness, Ibrahim Ahmed, said.
“Three out of the five died in one place, their burned bodies were found under the debris of their house,” another witness, Nurto Moalim Ali, told AFP. Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, told AFP his team collected 13 injured people, three of whom subsequently died, bringing to eight the number of civilian casualties in Tuesday’s clashes.
Hezb al-Islam, a rebel group allied to the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab in the fight against the government, claimed the attack which was the heaviest in weeks.
“We attacked the enemy positions and killed several of them during heavy clashes. They started shelling Bakara market and other civilian populated areas killing many civilians,” Hezb al-Islam commander Sheik Mohamed Osman said….