Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Witnesses in the Somali capital say mortar shells likely fired by insurgents crashed into civilian homes overnight, killing seven people, including four children.
Abdinur Hashi, a resident in the Hodan district of Mogadishu, said Tuesday that a father, mother and their two children died in one home, and a mother and her 8-year-old child died in a nearby house. A third child also died after suffering serious wounds caused by shrapnel.
The bodies were wrapped in white shrouds at daylight. Hashi called the violence a "catastrophe."
Security in Mogadishu has improved markedly over the past year, after African Union and Somali troops pushed al-Shabab insurgents out. But indiscriminate mortar and bomb attacks still take place.