Mogadishu, March 21: At least 24 Somalis have been killed in capital Mogadishu, following the African Union peacekeeping forces’ heavy shelling of residential areas in the northern district of the city.
The attacks on the anti-government rebel-held residential districts of Hodan, Hawl-wadag and Bondhere, also left 27 others wounded, a Media correspondent reported on Sunday.
Witnesses said fighters attacked governmental positions in the area in an attempt to drive away the African Union forces that back the Somali government.
There has yet been no statement by the government regarding the attacks.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia, and over 300,000 IDPs are sheltering in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
——–Agencies