Shelling in Somali capital kills at least 16
Islamist insurgents fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace in the Somali capital overnight, prompting return fire by troops that killed at least 16 people, medical officials and residents said on Monday.
Violence has killed an estimated 21,000 people or more in the failed Horn of Africa nation since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes, helping trigger one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies. Rebels from the hardline al Shabaab group, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, routinely fire at the hilltop Villa Somali palace from other parts of Mogadishu. (Reuters)
