Mortar attacks are targeted at the UN, AU’s headquarters in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least three civilians were killed and five wounded when a mortar blockade on UN and African Union peacekeeping missions (AMISOM) in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday said a police officer.
Abdi Yusuf, a police officer in Mogadishu’s Dharkinley district, told the Anadolu Agency by telephone that several mortar shells landed in a residential area near Somali Adan Adde International Airport in Mogadishu.
Local media reported that a father and an infant were among the victims of the attack, claimed by al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group al-Shabaab.
The targeted UN connection, known as Camp Halane, houses several Western diplomatic missions, including the British and the United States.
Sources in the connection, who spoke to Anadolu Agency by telephone on condition of anonymity, confirmed that several mortar shells also landed in and around the airport, where the UN connection is also located.
Somali leaders are currently meeting in the same area to end a month-long political and stalemate.
This is the second time the UN connection has been targeted in less than a month after an attack on March 9 with no reported losses.
Al-Shabaab has carried out several attacks in Somalia over the years, including a truck bomb in 2017 in Mogadishu that killed at least 300 people.
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