In Somalia, Insurgents Strike Seaport, Killing Two People
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Insurgents struck the Somali capital’s seaport and former intelligence quarters yesterday, killing two people and injuring at least 16 who were caught in fighting that drew in Ethiopian and government troops, witnesses said.
Mortar attacks were launched against four separate areas in the capital, where attacks against the transitional government are growing more sophisticated and deadly.
One person was killed and at least three people were wounded when a mortar round hit a restaurant near the seaport where locals were having lunch, employees and diners at the restaurant said.
“They were shouting and crying,” said Ali Madey Abdalla, who was at the restaurant. “They were in shock.”
Ten of the injured were taken to Mogadishu’s Keysaney hospital as was one of the dead, Dr. Mohamed Mo’lin said. All were civilians, medics said.
Six people hit by shrapnel were taken to the Medina hospital in the capital, said Amina Mahamed, a nurse there.
The attack came as 18 members of a U.N. delegation arrived in the government stronghold of Baidoa, 155 miles to the southwest of Mogadishu.
The group held talks with Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi about the possibility of sending U.N. peacekeepers, who would replace an African Union peacekeeping mission when its mandate ends in six months, the country’s foreign minister Ismail Hurre told the Associated Press.
