From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Jan 24 2009 - 06:35:17 EST
Suicide car bomb seen to kill 14 in Mogadishu
Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:23am GMT
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb aimed at African Union (AU)
peacekeepers in the Somali capital missed its target and killed 14 civilians
Saturday, witnesses said.
Islamist insurgents have been battling the country's Western-backed interim
government since the start of 2007, and have stepped up attacks since the
administration's Ethiopian military allies withdrew from Mogadishu this
month.
Abdifatah Shaweye, the city's deputy governor, told Reuters that policemen
stationed near an AU base opened fire on the bomb-laden car as it
approached, after which it crashed and blew up. Thirteen civilians and a
policeman were killed, he said.
"I could see smoke rising near the AU base," witness Abbas Farah said. At
least 30 people were wounded, doctors said.
An AU force spokesman said no peacekeepers had been hurt.
(Reporting by Abdi Guled, Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Daniel
Wallis; editing by Michael Roddy)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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