Seven, including three children, die in Somalia mortar attack

Seven people, including four children, were killed when mortar shells hit civilian homes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses said today.

Abdinur Hashi, a resident in the Hodan district of Mogadishu, said a father, mother and their two children died in one home, and a mother and her eight-year-old child died in a nearby house. A third child also died after suffering serious injuries caused by shrapnel.

The bodies were wrapped in white shrouds at daylight.

Mr Hashi called the violence a “catastrophe”.

Security in Mogadishu has improved markedly over the past year, after African Union and Somali troops pushed al-Shabab insurgents out. But indiscriminate mortar and bomb attacks still take place.