Al-Shebab attack IDP camp in Mogadishu

At least six internally displaced people, or IDPs, were killed and seven others wounded on Monday after al-Shebab rebels attacked an IDP camp with mortars near the presidential palace in Mogadishu. The mortar shelling targeted the palace in the capital, but missed and landed on the nearby refugee camp which houses hundreds of IDPs.

Witness said that several mortars hit houses as families slept. The dead include a father, mother and two of their children.

Ibrahim Ali was at the camp when the mortars hit:” There was no gunfire at the moment of the bombardment. Why are they shelling us now? They are ruthless militias.”

The rest of the wounded people were rushed to Medina hospital for treatment with some of them in critical condition.

The targeted camp is also close to Somalia’s presidential palace, but a Somalia government commander who asked for anonymity says the mortars were a direct attack against  civilians.

Al-Shebab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it had killed five African Union Ugandan soldiers and 11 government troops.

The African Union, however, insists only civilians were hurt. The attack was the second in a week and will raise doubts about claims by the government and African Union troops that it has now cleared the capital of militants.

Last week, a suicide bomber dressed in army uniform blew himself up in a restaurant opposite the presidential palace, killing six people.