An exchange of heavy mortar fire between African Union forces and Islamist insurgents in Mogadishu left at least 12 civilians dead and scores wounded, officials and medical sources said Monday.
The AU peacekeepers fired several mortar shells into northern Mogadishu districts in retaliation for artillery attacks by the rebels late Sunday.
Witness Abdulahi Nure said four other civilians were killed and their bodies ripped into pieces by the artillery fire in another neighbourhood.
A police official accused the radical insurgents of using the civilian population as human shields.
The Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels and Hezb al-Islam, another hardline Islamist militia, have repeatedly attacked Somali government forces and the AU peacekeepers since launching an offensive last May.
Source:AFP
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