Mogadishu Raids

Militants in Somalia’s capital have attacked African Union peacekeepers exactly a year after President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed took political office. “At least 12 people, including civilians, are reported to have been killed in the violence in Mogadishu. Islamist group al-Shabab has said it carried out the multiple attacks. Some 200 Somali officials were listening to a poetry reading to mark President Ahmed’s anniversary as shells were landing nearby, AFP reports. President Ahmed, a moderate Islamist and former insurgent leader, was elected after UN-sponsored talks in neighbouring Djibouti but his government remains weak. He was declared the winner of an election by Somali MPs on 31 January 2009. Al-Shabab, which denies charges it is linked to al-Qaeda, controls most of southern Somalia, while the government, backed by the peacekeeping mission, is in charge of a few areas of Mogadishu.”