The Azerbaijan State News Agency

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MILITANTS FIRE MORTARS AT SOMALI PRESIDENT`S PALACE

24.05.2010 [12:59]
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Baku, May 24 (AZERTAC). Al-Shabab militants have fired mortars at Somalia`s presidential palace, sparking deadly battles in which at least 14 people have died.

Government forces, backed by African Union peacekeepers, returned fire in a bid to repel the advance by the al-Qaeda-inspired group in Mogadishu.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was not in the building at the time, as he was in Turkey for a peace conference.

His UN-backed government only controls a few parts of the shattered nation.

The militants attacked the capital`s northern Shibis and Bondhere districts, leading to fierce fighting.

Among the dead were five members of a single family killed when a mortar landed on their house, a Mogadishu resident told the AFP news agency, saying he had seen the bodies.

A spokesman for the AU force defended their decision to fight back against the militants.