Scores die as AU troops battle Somali militants
A battle between African Union peacekeepers and Islamist militants killed about 30 civilians and wounded many others after rebels fired on Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s plane in Mogadishu. The president was on his way to an AU meeting in Uganda, when mortars and artillery shells hit busy civilian areas. The carnage ended a brief lull in fighting following the deadly bombing of AU headquarters early last month. The radical Islamist al-Shabaab group, which the US says is linked to al-Qaeda, along with local Hezb al-Islam rebels, launched a countrywide military offensive earlier this year to topple Sharif.Read more: Reuters, BBC
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