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By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN,
Associated Press Writer - Friday, October 23 MOGADISHU, Somalia – Mortars fired by Islamic militants slammed into
Somalia's airport as the president was boarding a plane Thursday,
sparking battles that killed at least 24 people when return fire hit
residential areas and a market, officials said.
A militant leader vowed to avenge the civilian deaths and threatened
retaliatory attacks in two African countries that supply troops to the
African Union peacekeeping mission stationed in Mogadishu. The president was unhurt and his plane took off safely, police said, but
the deaths of civilians is fueling a growing anger toward African Union
peacekeeping forces that are stationed in Mogadishu to help protect the
U.N.-backed government. Somalia's capital sees near-daily bloodshed as a powerful insurgent
group with links to al-Qaida tries to overthrow the fragile government
and push out some 5,000 AU peacekeepers. Both sides have been accused of
indiscriminate shelling. At least 20 bodies, most of them civilians, lay in the streets after
Thursday's fighting, said Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance
service. Four people later died at the hospital. Muse said about 60
people were wounded as mortar rounds slammed into residential areas. "Soldiers from Uganda and Burundi soldiers are our enemy. They often
massacre our people. We will not let them go unpunished, but will target
them in Kampala and Bujumbura," the capitals of the two countries, said
Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, a leader of al-Shabab, the militant group
linked to al-Qaida that controls much of southern Somalia. The shelling started soon after insurgents fired toward President Sheik
Sharif Sheik Ahmed's plane, said police spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise. Thursday's violence _ deadlier than many recent clashes in this
once-beautiful seaside city _ follow a pattern that witnesses say is
becoming all too common. First, insurgents fire at government or AU
targets. Then those forces respond by shelling insurgent bases, most of
which lie in residential areas. The result is that most of those killed in Somalia's war are civilians. The same situation exists in Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are
battling Taliban militants. The militants fire on international troops
from residential areas in hopes of drawing return fire that kills
civilians _ a propaganda victory for the militants. The U.S. commander
in Afghanistan has sought to reduce such return fire, which turns
Afghans against U.S. and NATO forces. But in Somalia, the AU denies firing into residential areas. AU
peacekeeping force spokesman Barigye Bahoku said insurgents are actually
shelling the residential areas they control to make it appear the AU is
responsible. But many Somalis doubt such assertions. "What cannot be denied is that most of the fire comes from the bases of
the African Union, and they hit and kill civilians in the
rebel-controlled areas," said Ahmed Abdulahi, a businessman in
Mogadishu. "People have eyes and ears, they know what is going on." Sheik Ali Mohamud Siyad, the trader's chairman of Bakara Market which
was hit with mortar shells Thursday, said: "It is ruthless and inhumane
to target innocent civilians, but it happens every day here and nobody
bothers to mention it." Anger is growing toward a peacekeeping force that has long lamented that
it is undermanned. The force is meant to have 8,000 troops, but
reinforcements have not arrived. The troops, from Uganda and Burundi,
come under regular attack and mostly are confined to bases in Mogadishu
for safety.
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