Over 20 dead after attack on Somali president (Roundup)

Oct 22, 2009, 15:18 GMT

Nairobi/Mogadishu - At least 20 people died and 61 were injured in the Somali capital Mogadishu Thursday following an insurgent mortar attack on the president, officials and medics said.

Insurgents, who have been pushing to oust the Western-backed government, attacked President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as he flew out to Uganda to attend an African Union conference on internally displaced people and refugees.

The AU peacekeeping mission AMISOM returned mortar fire toward a popular market and residential areas, witnesses said.

'Many innocent civilians died in today's shelling around Bakara market, including women and children,' Ali Muse Sheikh, a paramedic who works for the Ambulance Services, told the German Press Agency dpa. 'We have collected 20 dead and 61 injured, many with critical injuries.'

AMISOM and the government forces have often been accused of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas after coming under attack, and witnesses said they that innocent bystanders were once again targeted by the AU peacekeepers.

'We ran toward a concrete building for safety because up to six consecutive artillery missiles slammed around us,' Jelani Abdiasiis Nor, a victim who sustained a minor injures, said, 'but a shell penetrated the building, killing six innocent civilians and wounding more than 10 others, including me.'

Sheikh Sharif was unharmed in the fighting, which comes after a recent period of relative calm in Mogadishu.

AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) - the target of a recent suicide bombing that killed 17 peacekeepers - is propping up the government in Somalia, which has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The insurgency, which kicked off in early 2007 following an Ethiopian invasion, has recently gathered pace.

Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab and its allies Hizbul Islam in May launched a renewed push to oust Sheik Sharif, a former insurgent ally who came to power early this year as part of a United Nations-backed peace process.

More than 250,000 people fled daily heavy battles, which tailed off after a few months.

There has been little violence in Mogadishu in recent weeks as al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have turned on each other in a power struggle over control of the port town of Kismayo.