Mogadishu, Somalia – A missile hit a hospital ward packed with civilians wounded in fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops allied with the Somali government, an official said. The extent of casualties was not immediately clear.
The ward was housing 20 to 30 adults, said Wilhelm Huber, regional director for the SOS Children’s Villages.
Five missiles hit the grounds in the lunchtime attack, but only one struck a ward, Huber said. People were wounded, but he did not have details because of the chaotic situation and because there already were wounded in the ward.
He said he did not believe the hospital had been deliberately targeted but that the strike clearly came from government forces because of the flight path of the missiles.
“People are desperate,” Huber said. “This is a tragic situation.”
At least 13 shells have hit the grounds of the hospital and children’s orphanage in the past six days, including the latest attack, he said.
Earlier in the day, civilians were caught in the crossfire as the Somali government’s Ethiopian backers used tanks and heavy artillery to pound insurgent strongholds, witnesses said.
