At least five civilians have been killed and 23 others were wounded during an exchange of artillery and mortar fire between Somali government forces and Islamist militants in Somalia’s lawless capital Mogadishu on Sunday.
Most of the casualties occurred in and around the main Bakara market, an insurgent hotbed in the Somali capital where government forces fired in retaliation to the militants who fired mortars from the area towards the Somali police academy where a ceremony to mark the 66th anniversary of the establishmenty of the Somali police force in 1943.
Ali Muse Sheikh, the head of the Life-Line Africa-Nation Link Telecom Ambulance Service told reporters that his medical staff confirmed the deaths of five civilians and the wounding of 23 other civilians in the districts of Holwadaag, Wardhigley and Dayniile.
Meanwhile, an artillery fire also hit the building of Shabelle TV and radio station in the eastern edge of Bakara Market with no human casualties reported but damaged the building and other materials in the station, according to a Shabelle reporter who requested anonymity.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the mortar attack on the ceremony to mark the Somali police anniversary that triggered heavy exchange of fire in the Somali capital on Sunday.
Source African Press Agency
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