By Xinhua,
Mogadishu : At least 40 people were killed and 60, including 11 children, wounded when insurgents traded heavy fire with Somali troops and African Union (AU) peacekeepers Monday in the Somali capital, hospital sources and witnesses said.
Shelling began after insurgents fired mortars at the Mogadishu airport where a plane reportedly landed. AU peacekeepers at the airport and Ethiopian and Somali government forces returned the fire.
Yusuf Omar, an eyewitness in the capital, said that he saw five civilians killed by an artillery shell that hit the pavement near their house.
Dozens of shells hit a number of residential areas in the city killing 35 civilians, media reports said.
Hospital sources said they feared a higher toll as streams of injured kept coming, some with grievous wounds and in critical condition.