Saturday, February 7, 2009

Mortars fired near Somali presidential palace

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Mortars were fired at the Somali presidential palace Saturday, hours after the country's new president arrived in the capital for the first time since his election last week in neighboring Djibouti, a spokesman said.

No one was hurt when the four mortars exploded near the palace in Mogadishu, and President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed ordered soldiers and African Union peacekeepers not to return fire, presidential spokesman Abdullahi Khadar said. Civilians are often killed in the crossfire between Islamic insurgents and troops or AU peacekeepers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though Islamic insurgents have attacked the palace several times in the past.

The extremist Islamic group al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia, is opposed to Ahmed's Western-backed government and wants to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terror organization with links to al-Qaida, something the group denies.

Ahmed — a moderate Islamic leader elected president on Jan. 31 — told reporters after his arrival Saturday in Mogadishu that he would be meeting right away with traditional elders, members of Islamic insurgent groups and officials. He did not give any details.

The government currently wields little control in Somalia, holding just a few blocks of Mogadishu. Ahmed is the government's first leader that comes from the Council of Islamic Courts, an Islamic umbrella group that ran Mogadishu for six months in 2006 before Ethiopian soldiers drove them from power.

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