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Five children killed by landmine in Somalian capital

Five children walking to Friday prayers in Somalia's capital were killed when they picked up a land mine and threw it against a wall, witnesses said.

The children were between the ages of 7 and 12, said Khasaye Nor Abdulkadir, who was hit in the thigh with shrapnel.

"One of them picked up the land mine hidden under the ground and then they gathered," Abdulkadir said. "Another child took it and threw it against a wall and it went off."

Hamdi Kahiye, whose 7-year-old son was killed, wailed when she learned of the boy's death.

"I had dressed him well and sent him to the mosque to attend the Friday prayers," she said, her face wet with tears. "He was caught by the explosion on his way. I am shocked, I am shocked."

A 16-year-old girl's leg was blown off in the blast.

"This is really revolting savagery to plant a mine in a residential area," said the girl's mother, Asha Hassan Abdi, who was tending to her daughter at Medina Hospital.

The Somali capital has seen little peace since government troops backed by Ethiopian forces drove an Islamic movement out of the city in December. Roadside bombs, attacks on government installations, assassination attempts and gunbattles have become common, and civilians are caught in the crossfire.

The Council of Islamic Courts ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months last year, during which they sought to impose an Islamic state. Insurgents linked to the Islamic group have vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

Battles in Mogadishu between March 12 and April 26 alone killed at least 1,670 people.

Friday's blast was in Mogadishu's Hurwa district, a hotbed of support for the Islamic courts.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against one another, defending clan fiefdoms. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the UN, but has struggled to assert any real control.
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