MOGADISHU, Dec 13: At least 11 Somalis died on Thursday, including nine in almost simultaneous mortar blasts, as Mogadishu’s civilian population continued to bear the brunt of relentless fighting.

“A mortar shell exploded in the midst of a crowded stall, killing six people and wounding five others, some of them seriously,” witness Hassan Abdalla Nur said.

Moments later, another shell landed nearby, killing another three people.

“The shell landed in the middle of a crowd and killed three civilians on the spot and seven others seriously wounded,” said Beq Omar, a local pharmacist.

Haji Ibrahim, another witness, gave the same the death toll and said the victims were torn to shreds by the explosion.

“These incidents were horrific, I have never seen anything like it. The explosion cut people into pieces and splashed blood on the market stalls. We’re not sure where the mortar came from,” he said. An journalist saw a microbus whisking the injured away to hospital.

Witnesses said the death toll could yet rise as many of the wounded appeared to be in critical condition. The market attack came barely hours after Islamist insurgents clashed with Ethiopian-backed government forces.

The fighting took place mainly in southern neighbourhoods but some mortar shell impacts were reported in some distant northern districts of the war-ravaged capital.

At least two civilians were killed in Yaqshid and Gupta neighbourhood in overnight violence, the latest in a series of attacks that have driven hundreds of thousands from the seaside capital since January, several witnesses said.—AFP