A wave of pre-dawn mortar attacks pounded Mogadishu and killed at least 16 people today in one of the most brutal bombardments since an Islamist movement was forced out of the Somali capital last month.
The hilltop presidential palace, Villa Somalia, and the coastal city's defence headquarters were among the targets hit in attacks that struck many quarters of Mogadishu and sent hundreds of residents fleeing to outlying towns.
"They showered us with rockets and a mortar also hit the compound. Luckily no one was hurt," said a government soldier who was in Villa Somalia during the attack but declined to be named for fear of reprisal.
"Our troops and those from our ally Ethiopia were forced to fire heavy artillery," he said. "We had to retaliate. These elements are being paid to cause all this destruction."
A spate of near-daily attacks have challenged the government's effort to impose security on the city recaptured in December by government forces and their Ethiopian allies from Islamists who controlled it for six months.
The death toll climbed throughout the day today as more reports came in from across the chaotic capital, with witnesses and officials putting the total at 16 -- all of them civilians.
"A pregnant woman died in a house made of iron sheets after a mortar hit where she was sleeping. ... There was blood everywhere," witness Ibrahim Maalim, who said he saw six bodies in the central Wardigley district, told Reuters.
At one Mogadishu hospital alone officials said there were more than 40 wounded and those with lesser injuries were sent home. Relatives gathered around patients wrapped in bandages lying on the steamy, crowded hospital's floors.
The city's taxis, buses and trucks were packed with residents heading out of town.
"May God help us. These people played mortar games with us caught in between," said Salavo Elmi, an 80-year-old great-grandmother, as she left Mogadishu by taxi.