Heavy fighting in Mogadishu

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion naturally falls on al Shabaab. It is imperiative that Somalia not fall into the hands of the islamists. Just this past year alone, islamic pirates from Somalia have shown how dangerous an islamic controlled Somalia can be. BBC

At least 10 people have been killed and 50 injured during the fiercest fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu since a new president was elected last month.

The battle focused on the south of the city, with rebels firing mortars at the presidential palace and a base for African Union and government troops.[...]

In Tuesday's fighting insurgents fired volleys of mortar bombs at the heavily-guarded hilltop presidential palace in the Wardhigley district of Mogadishu.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in the capital says the newly-elected President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was understood to be at home at the time.

Our correspondent says it is the fiercest fighting since the moderate Islamist leader was elected late last month under a UN-brokered peace deal.

Insurgents also bombarded a base for AU and government troops in the Hodan district, while untargeted mortars rained down on the nearby Howlwadag district.