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21 civilians killed in Mogadishu fighting

27 August 2011 02:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Twenty-one civilians have been killed and 59 others injured in attacks by men disguised as Somali troops and armed bandits in Mogadishu, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Armed men wearing uniforms of Somali Transitional Federal Government soldiers killed six civilians and injured 19 others in the Hodan district of the capital on Friday, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.

The imposters also looted around 20 trucks carrying food and other types of humanitarian assistance.

In addition, armed bandits killed 15 civilians and injured 40 others in an attack near the Karan district of northern Mogadishu on Friday.

On Monday, twelve people were killed and several others wounded when Somali Transitional Federal Government troops turned on each other at a camp for displaced people in Mogadishu.

About 15 tons of humanitarian assistance was looted in the incident.

Drought and famine have affected more than 11.8 million people across Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Somalia has been the hardest-hit country in what is being described as the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years.

According to the United Nations, a quarter of Somalia’s 9.9 million people are now either internally displaced or living outside the country as refugees.

The UN has declared famine in five regions of Somalia and says that the international humanitarian response to the crisis has been insufficient.

The United Nations says that more than thirteen children out of every 10,000 aged less than five die in the Somalia famine zone every day.

"This means that 10 per cent of children under five are dying every 11 weeks. These figures are truly heart-wrenching," UN representative to Somalia Augustine Mahiga told the UN Security Council on August 10.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.