MOGADISHU, Somalia — Mortars fired by Islamic militants slammed into Somalia’s airport as the president was boarding a plane Thursday, sparking battles that killed at least 24 people when return fire hit residential areas and a market, officials said.
A militant leader vowed to avenge the civilian deaths and threatened retaliatory attacks in two African countries that supply troops to the African Union peacekeeping mission stationed in Mogadishu.
The president was unhurt and his plane took off safely, police said, but the deaths of civilians is fueling a growing anger toward African Union peacekeeping forces that are stationed in Mogadishu to help protect the U.N.-backed government.
The shelling Thursday started soon after insurgents fired toward President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed’s plane, said police spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise.
Somalia’s capital sees near-daily bloodshed as a powerful insurgent group with links to al-Qaeda tries to overthrow the fragile government and push out some 5,000 AU peacekeepers. Both sides have been accused of indiscriminate shelling.
Thursday’s violence — deadlier than many recent clashes in this once-beautiful seaside city — follow a pattern that witnesses say is becoming all too common. First, insurgents fire at government or AU targets. Then those forces respond by shelling insurgent bases, most of which lie in residential areas.
The result is that most of those killed in Somalia’s war are civilians.
