Dozens killed in Mogadishu clashes

Ten Burundian soldiers serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) lost their lives on Thursday as they launched attacks against al-Shabab fighters in southern Mogadishu.

Twenty-one civilians died and 43 others were injured when the two sides exchanged mortar rounds during skirmishes.

Somali ambulance workers ferried those wounded to Medina hospital.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security in the Horn of Africa nation but all the efforts have so far failed.

Up to one million people have lost their lives following years of fighting between rival warlords and because of the incapability to tackle famine and disease.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia. More than 300,000 of them are sheltering in Mogadishu alone.

Most of the IDPs live in squalid conditions at makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Source: Keydmedia Partners - Press TV