At least eleven civilians have been killed and nearly 40 others were wounded after the Somali government forces and Islamist insurgents exchanged mortar fires on Wednesday afternoon.
Most of the casualties took place in the Markets of Bakara and Suq Ba’aad, the two largest markets in Somalia after government forces reacted to Islamists who fired rockets from the markets and surrounding areas.
Ali Muse Sheik of the Lifeline Africa-Nation link telecom ambulance service told reporters this evening that his medical staff collected nearly 40 wounded civilians from different villages including both markets.
“Today we have taken 37 wounded people from in and around the main markets of Bakara and Suq Ba’aad. We have also confirmed the deaths of eleven civilians” Ali Muse told a press conference.
Meanwhile thousands of civilians have fled from the restive capital Mogadishu Wednesday amid fears of a breakout of heavy fighting between the government and Islamist militants, as thousands of insurgents poured into capital last night.
At least 21,000 people mainly civilians have been killed in Mogadishu alone since January 2007 while more than 1.5 Million others fled from their homes in the city.
The United Nations is saying that at least 3.5 million people nearly half of the country’s population is in need of emergency humanitarian assistance because of draughts, poverty and the long-running civil strife in the chaotic horn of African country which lacked a functioning central government for nearly two decades.
