THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least 14 people were killed and more than 25 were wounded on Sunday in heavy fighting between government troops and insurgents who attacked the presidential palace with mortars, witnesses and officials said.
At least six mortar shells landed near the palace, witnesses said, but the president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, was in Turkey at a United Nations conference called to help Somalia.
“Our army withdrew from the front lines, and we have lost neighborhoods,” said Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad "Indha Adde", Somalia's state minister for defense. “But the prime minister is responsible for the defeat,” he added.
The fighting led to what witnesses called the biggest surge in refugees in months. Civilians poured into the streets carrying household goods packed onto donkey carts and into wheelbarrows. Others crammed into minibuses and old Fiat trucks. Refugee camps in several neighborhoods here were evacuated.
“I fled with my children, and I don’t know where I am heading,” said Jija Abdirahman, who was trying to escape with her three children and a wheelbarrow full of luggage. “These are merciless fighters. I have no hope that it will finish soon.” >>> Mohammed Ibrahim | Sunday, May 23, 2010
